Darkness Within
by Night Assailant
Summary: On a lonely night Harry realises he never threw away Tom Riddle's Diary. In need of some one to talk to, he decides to open the little book once more. No slash! Rating might change.
1. Chapter 1

_This will be my first complete fanfiction story in English. There may be some spelling mistakes._

_Disclaimer: All characters belong to J. ._

* * *

Silent screams was all that filled his mind. His hands clutched the blanket around him. Twisting and turning. Then his eyes shot open. Green eyes, haunted by the lingering nightmare. It took Harry a while to realise it had been yet another dream. The same dream, over and over again.

_Kill the spare._

Those three little words were like a whisper in the dark. A chill went down his spine. He had to remember it was only a dream. A vicious nightmare, no longer the real thing. That battle ended nearly two weeks ago. If you could even call it a battle.

Cedric died, without a chance to defend himself. Death came by a flash of green and the whisper of two words. And then Voldemort had returned. Harry couldn't stop himself from shivering, knowing all to well it was by mere chance he escaped yet again. He knew one day his luck would run out. That was if he could get out of this rotting stinking place.

He was the one, who saw Voldemort return, yet he had not heard any news at all. Ron and Hermoine were his only two contacts to the magical world. But even they their letters were vague. Every question he asked, was answered the same.

I'm sorry Harry, we can not tell you any more. The wrong people might read these letters.

He knew they were right, there was a high possibility that someone would read their letters and it was dangerous to put any real information in them. But it was nonetheless infuriating. Not even Dumbledore had contacted.

In all those years, he never felt more alone. When he told any of his two best friends about his nightmares, they would push it away, saying it was only logical, that he was traumatised. Maybe so but that didn't mean he didn't want to talk about it. He had al these feelings, emotions inside him, consuming him, wrecking havoc in his mind and body. But there was no one he could go to.

For a moment he rubbed his eyes, adjusting to the darkness. Then he grabbed his glasses from the nightstand and looked at the clock. 2:16. It was still the middle of the night. But Harry knew all to well he wouldn't sleep again, not now. The vision was still engraved in his mind, the words to clear in his ears.

He shook his head. He had to get rid of these thoughts, these turmoil of feelings. So he got up and walked over to his desk. He switched on his lamp, grabbed a quill, some ink and parchment.

_Dear Hermoine,_

_I know I've told you a million times, but I just can't shake this feeling. I need to talk about it with someone. It's alw..._

He dropped his quill. It was always the same. She would just gave him the same response yet again. So why bother? Because he needed to lose these feelings, rather sooner than later. But there was no comfort I writing a letter to which he already knew the answer.

A few minutes passed, while he tried to process his thoughts, order them. There was of course someone else he could talk to. Someone, who might understand, or at least laugh about his pathetic state of being. It would be a different response all together. He had nothing to lose.

As quietly as possible, he opened the hidden compartment under his wooden floor. Pushing his first-caught snitch aside, he found what he was looking for. A small black book, old and wretched.

Tom Riddles Diary.

Last time when he didn't know what to do, the young man in the diary helped him. With lies and tricks, but it helped none the less. He knew Tom Riddle couldn't be trusted, he was after all the younger version of Voldemort himself. But what could a memory do to him? Nothing.

He sat back down behind his desk and opened the diary at a random page. Picking up his quill, he hesitated. Poor Ginny almost died pouring her feelings, her very soul into this book. Wasn't this the very same thing?

No

This was different, he knew it was. He would never give Riddle his soul. Riddle was a slimy bastard, who used cunning words to manipulate you. With this knowledge the young man in the diary was no threat to him. He made up his mind.

_Hello Riddle._

Silence. No other words appeared on the paper. Could a memory die? No probably not, not this easy. Could they sleep? He snorted. That would be funny. Elegant letters appeared on the paper.

_Why Hallo Harry. I presume it is Harry Potter._

_Who else would it be?_ He wrote back.

_Dumbledore perhaps?_

He looked at the disappearing words. Well that would be logical, any sane person would have given the diary to a wiser wizard, hoping he knew what to do with it. But for some strange enough reason he decided to keep it, make it his.

_Oh my, I presume you didn't tell the old man? Am I your dirty little secret?_

He looked at the words, biting his lip. No he never told Dumledore what happen with the dangerous little book. Not the truth at least. Why should he? Dumbledore never told him anything. Yet the words from the Slytherin heir made him uncomfortable. It was like he did something really bad. Two minutes in this conversation and Riddle was already crawling under his skin!

He cleared his mind, dipping his quill in the ink once more.

_No. There are no secrets between me and Dumbledore. He lied._

_Are you sure? It took you a while to respond._

Irritation crept in his mind. Knowing all to well what Riddle was doing, but not giving it a chance to succeed.

_Unlike some memory I actually have other things to do._

_You do now, don't you? Pray tell me, what do fourteen year old boys do in the middle of the night, while all others are sleeping?_

What? How did Riddle know it was the middle of the night? How did he even know how old he was! Did this book have eyes or something? He browsed through the pages, looking for a window, like the one he saw two years ago, but there was no such thing.

_I can read your mind Harry._

He stared at those six words, another shiver ran down his spine. There was no such thing like mind-reading. Was there? And if there was, certainly a memory from a diary wasn't able to use it. He closed the diary, his heart was racing. Riddle was creeping him out. Had he always been this unnerving?

He stared at the closed diary. Doubt settled in him once more. He could just throw the diary away, but that would rob him of the only chance to actually have a real conversation with someone. He had no doubt Riddle would be deathly honest against him. Especially about his nightmares.

He opened the little book again. Neat words filled the blank page.

_I was only joking. I need a body and a wand to read your mind. Were you scared?_

Harry bit his lip again, wondering what answer he should give. But before he made up his mind, new letters appeared.

_Of course not. I may not be able to read your mind, but I can feel what you are feeling. Now what is I that the great Harry Potter wants from me?_

The great Harry Potter? He could not help himself, a little chuckle passed is lips. Sure, it was sarcasm, but coming from the one who would become his nemesis, it just sounded funny. He grabbed his quill again.

_I just wanted to talk._

_I'm flattered that you would choose me over any other._

Harry snorted. As if. If there was someone else, he would talk to someone else. But that was just is, wasn't it? There was no one. That's why he assorted to this in the first place. But he wasn't going to tell Ridlle that.

_Don't flatter yourself. This late a night, you are the only psycho available._

_I'm sure there are many more to choose from. Tell me, what is it you wanted to talk about? If it's a girl, please shut the diary again._

He cheeks flushes. He didn't want to talk about girls! Why would he talk about girls with this psychopath?

_No, not girls._ He wrote back, ink disappearing almost immediately._ I've been having the same bloody nightmare every night._

_A nightmare? About what? And do mind you language._

_You're hideous older version, killing a friend of mine._

Why was he doing this again? It was not like Riddle could help him, or even understand him. The Slytherin Heir was probably laughing, because he was essentially causing his nightmares. A letter to Hermoine or Ron would have been a whole lot better. It wasn't to late. He could just close the diary, put it back under the wooden floorboard en just continue his letter to his best friend.

_I suppose you have been traumatised. Nightmares pass, there is not much you can do about it._

He couldn't believe his eyes. Riddle was not laughing, not very helpful either. Maybe he could talk to the Slytherin heir about this sort of things.

_I know. It's just...I get this horrid feeling inside. Like it is happing over and over again, every night._

_Nightmares tend to do that. I know I didn't like waking up screaming._

His breath stopped for a second. Riddle had nightmares? Voldemort has nightmares? No, that would be ridiculous. What would the Dark Lord be scared of? Except his own mirror reflection of course. But Riddle wasn't Voldemort, now was he? Not Completely at least. Riddle was still partially human.

_What did you do about it?_

The page stayed blank for a few moments. Just like Riddle was trying to build some suspense. If he was, it was working. Harry was anxious awaiting the answer. When the words did appear, he could imaging Riddle smirking.

_I gave my nightmares their own fears. Me._

Well, that wasn't helping much. Seeing how Voldemort was the biggest part of his fear, he could be seen as his nightmare. It was hardly possible let Voldemort fear him, or something else. The man had no emotions. He decided he didn't want to talk about it any more. So he moved on to another topic.

_How did you know those things before?_

_If I tell you, will you visit me again?_

_Yes._ He had written it down, before he realised and was fully aware of the question.

_Do you promise?_

_Yes._ He wrote again, feeling a tingle of magic surging through his body.

_Even a memory knows how much time passes. As for the rest...I anticipated your thoughts_.

And that was the final straw. He closed the diary en pushed it away. Riddle was scary as hell. The Slytherin heir knew exactly what he was thinking. No bloody way he would ever open that odd little book again. He would stuff it away and never speak of it again. He decided that a lack of sleep was the cause of this idiotic idea. Once, but no more. Promise or no promise.


	2. Chapter 2

_Well, here is my second chapter. Hope you like it. I always find it hard to start a new story. Especially when I don't know where I'm heading._

_I had a nice little comment from a guest. I believe it was sarcasm. My answer: If you've read the summary, you would have know this is no Slash. I don't want them to be a couple. _

* * *

When Harry woke up the next day, he found himself with his head on the desk. A little confused he looked around the room. Slowly but certainly the memory of the night before flooded back in his mind.

"Oh no." He muttered.

How stupid could he be? Tom Riddle was a vicious mas-murdering psychopath. Even locked-up in a diary he could be dangerous. Harry only had to think about what happened to Ginny. Or almost happened. She could have died, just by pouring her doubts and feelings in the diary, entrusting them to Riddle.

No harm done. If he just left the diary alone, nothing would happen. Diary Riddle could not come to live, if he didn't feed the memory his soul. He closed his eyes for a moment, before Uncle Vernon banged on his door.

"Get down to the kitchen boy!"

A sigh escaped his lips, before he got up and dressed quickly. With one last look at the little black book, he turned around en left his room.

"Finaly! Hurry up boy. I need to get to work."

He rolled his eyes. Even after all these years, he was still cooking and doing his chores. If uncle Vernon needed to be somewhere on time, he should just bake the eggs himself, instead of pestering Harry about it all the time.

Two slices of bread flew out of the toaster. That thing needed fixing! Harry barely caught them in time. He placed them on a plate, with the baked egg on top. A few slices of bacon, and he was finished. Without another word he set the plate down in front of his uncle.

"I'm going out." He said. He didn't even wait for the comment. Otherwise he would be in there all day, cutting the grass, doing the dishes, vacuum the living-room and whatever else Aunt Petunia could come up with.

No. For once he wanted to spend his day outside, in the sun. Maybe a long stroll would calm his mind. He felt uneasy for some reason. The feeling started in his abdomen, a slight tingling, like when a small bug crawls over your arm.

Ignoring the feeling, he walked straight out of Privet drive. How further away he was, the better. The unpleasant tingling in his abdomen even disappeared. Considering the weird and long night he had, he felt surprisingly good.

His feet took him as far as the nearest forest, which was quit an end away. But he didn't even noticed. All he could think about, was the night before. The words in the diary. How ever hard he tried to think of something else. Every word flashed before his eyes, over and over again. He rubbed his temple.

He couldn't even think about his friends, or Sirius. Not even one single spell came to mind. Only Riddle. Riddle's Diary. Riddle's words. Riddle.

It unnerved him as much as it irritated him.

"For crying out loud!" He suddenly yelled. No one heard him, he was on his own. Why couldn't he forget this? Think of something else. There was nothing worth remembering in that conversation. He just had to focus on something else. Something happy, that had nothing to do with Riddle, his painfully lonely situation, or his nightmares at all.

He sat down in the green grass, at the edge of the forest, resting his back against a tree. Then he let his mind drift. Hoping it would bring him somewhere else than with his thoughts about Riddle.

Bird. Flapping his wings, trying to bring a worm into its nest, to feed the small ones. And another one, chirping a happy song, whilst seated on a twig. Two butterfly frolicking around each other.

His eyes slowly closed. He felt the soft breeze on his face, wind playing with his already messy hair. The sound of a dog barking in the distance. Tranquility descended upon him. This was exactly what he needed. Some peace and quiet.

Slowly but surely he fell asleep. Drifting away from this world into another. A world of dreams.

_Harry!_

His eyes shot open. Every muscle in his body tensed. "What...?" He blinked. There was no one there. Not on the road leading to the forest, nor in the forest itself, or the grassland surrounding it. He blinked again.

It had to be in his dream. Some one calling out to him, even though he couldn't remember dreaming just a minute ago.

The tingling feeling was back, but it was no longer concentrated at his abdomen. The feeling was spreading through his chest, climbing up his spine. His head started to ache. The blood in his veins was pulsating. His body tried to tell him something that his mind couldn't grasped so easily. He just didn't know what it was he had to do.

He rubbed his temples with is fingers, hoping the throbbing in his head would go away. But it didn't work. He just needed some sleep, that was all. This was his body telling him he needed to sleep. So he lay down in the grass again, closing his eyes once more. He would feel a whole lot better when he had slept a bit.

This time he didn't even have the chance to drift away.

_Harry! _The voice came again. This time louder and more clear.

He recognized the voice. But that was not possible! He blinked again, looking around. There was no one there, like he confirmed before. He was all alone. But he hadn't imagined the voice. It was as clear as day. That was what scared him the most, because it could mean only one thing. Riddle was inside his head.

* * *

Solitude and darkness.

That was the worst part of being locked up in a diary for over fifty years. As long as the diary remained closed, the only thing he could see, was darkness. Not even a shadow, but pure and utter darkness. It surrounded him and cloaked his soul in black velvet.

There was no light, not even the faint light you get from the stars, or the moon. Even in a night-dark forest you could see, even if it was only shades. But here in prison of his soul there was no light.

Worse than the darkness, was the solitude. Playing games with yourself got boring pretty quickly. Talking to yourself even faster. He could relive every single memory, if he wanted. And he had done that over a million times. He had seen the past sixteen years of his life, over and over again. Or at least the years that were contained in this diary.

A memory is like a play. Every time you act your part, you'll get to know the role a little bit better. You memorize the words, until there is no longer anything to memorize. You'll become a part of that play, saying the words out of habit, with no lingering feelings. It will become routine. Dull. Boring.

How ever hard you try, you'll never get the other actors to say something else, something out of the play, something out of character. Because that's not what the script says. You can't change your own lines, because then you'll be thrown out of the play, back into the dark abyss form whence you came.

This was exactly how boring his memory's got. There was nothing new to learn, nothing he could use anymore.

This was why he wanted someone to talk to. Even if it was someone like Harry Potter, The boy who lived, the boy who cut of his escape-route. At least with Potter he could have a descent conversation. Even if it was about nightmares or less intelligent topics.

How low he had fallen. He would talk about girls, if it would get him out of the darkness and boredom.

Harry would do just that. The promise the boy made the night before would ensure that. At least once more. If he could help it, more than once. But first he would have to pull the boy closer.

He could feel the presence of the boy at all times. He was leaving, getting further away. With each step Harry did, the thread, symbolizing the promise Harry made, got weaker. He knew if the golden boy wandered to far of, the weak thread would be broken. That was something he could not risk. This might be his one and only chance to get out of here.

So he started filling Harry's head with the memory of the night before, the conversation they had. The bond made sure Harry would get these memory's. Piece by piece, until he could think of nothing else. It seemed to work, he could feel the bond getting stronger again, even though the boy moved further away still.

At the very moment he started to bring the boy in, something changed. A feeling of calmness fell over him. Short images of grassland and birds. The boy wonder was drifting of to sleep! This could not happen, not now.

He gathered all his strength, all the power, however weak, that made their bond, to call out to the boy.

_Harry!_

He could feel the threat thicken again. Apparently he woke golden boy. But his mind was still wandering of. Descending into tranquility once more.

_Harry!_ He called out a second time, only this time with much more power.

The boys thoughts wandered back toward him, unwillingly strengthening the bond. Then he started to pull, hauling the boy in, like a fish with a line. He could feel the presence coming closer. At first the boy resisted him, to stubborn to be obedient. That could only hurt. But it mattered not, because he knew Harry could not ignore him forever.

And sure enough the boy realized this to, because he no longer resisted him. The presence came closer and closer, faster then he had expected. If Harry was so easy to reel in, this would be a whole lot less difficult then he suspected.

A little while later – it could have been an hour, maybe two, or even only ten minutes – the diary opened. He could see the light, but nothing more. There were no colors, besides from black in white in this dreadful place. But white was always better then the never ending blackness.

When the words came, he smirked -if locked up souls were even able to smirk-. The boy had a temper, but it mattered not. He had what he wanted, some attention.

_What the hell do you want Riddle?_

Oh he was going to have so much fun, playing with the Gryffindors head. Messing up his emotions and eventually feed on the boys soul. And there was nothing to boy could do to stop him.


	3. Chapter 3

_Thank you for the reviews! Let's hope the story will be as good as the first chapter. I'll try and update regularly, but I can't promise anything. Sometimes my imaginations goes down the drain! Enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

He couldn't believe this was actually happening. Riddle was pulling him in, like a fish on a hook. At first he flat out refused to place even one step closer to that cursed diary. But when his head nearly exploded, with unbearable pain, he reluctantly walked back to his aunt's and uncle's house.

"Where do you think you're going?" Asked Aunt Petunia as soon as he came inside. "Come back down!"

He ignored her. First he needed to set things straight with Riddle, then he would do his chores, knowing all the well what a mad house this would become, if he didn't.

_What the hell do you want?_

The decision he made last night, was foolish, he realized that now. There was no way he could thrust Riddle. Even the simplest of conversation could get you in a whole lot of trouble.

_I just wanted to make sure you uphold your promise._

His promise? Riddle forced him to come back and open the diary just to have another chat? In the middle of the day? He felt so frustrated he wanted to close the book again and just leave Riddle to suffocate in his own schemes. But that would mean the headache would return.

_I have nothing to say to you anymore Riddle._

_In seriously doubt that. You could tell me all about yourself._

_In your dreams!_

As if he was that stupid! Telling that bastard all about himself meant pouring his very being in that diary.

_I'm sure that can be arranged._

What? Riddle was going to arrange what? The tingling feeling in his abdomen got stronger again. His hand started to tremble. He felt so tired. Even holding the quill in his hand seemed to be such an effort. His eyelids were heavy, slowly closing. What was happening? First his vision got a bit hazy, only to turn black seconds later.

* * *

When Harry opened his eyes, nothing changed. He was in complete and utter darkness. There was nothing there, not even a surface to sit upon. He was floating in the darkness. Even when he tried to move, nothing seemed to change. There was no wind, nor a soft breeze.

"Hallo?" He tried, hoping there was someone there, anyone. Somewhere he expected an echo of his own voice, but even that didn't happen. This was weird and frighting.

"Hallo Harry." A soft whisper, somewhere in the darkness. Riddle. Somehow the Slytherin heir crawled in his head again. "Does the darkness frighten you, Golden boy?"

"No." His answer came to quick, he knew that.

"Oh but it does." The voice was like silk, to soft and to smooth. "I know it does Harry, you can't lie to me. Imagine living in this darkness for half a century. And then, when you finally see the light again, a glimpse of life, some boy comes along and crashes all your hopes."

"Is that what this is about? Vengeance?" The first chance he got, he would trow the book away, burn it even and never speak of it again. Then he would be rid of Riddle and his twisted mind games.

"Vengeance? Of course not. It is however a nice addition to torment you a bit in the process." Slowly the darkness started to fade. Shades of white and gray appeared. His feet hit something solid, causing him to fall down on his hands and knees.

He slowly looked up, to the figure standing in front of him now. He recognized the elder boy immediately. Dark hair, almost as black as his own. High cheekbones and dark blueish gray eyes. They looked a lot alike, he and Riddle. The biggest difference was the skin-tone. Whilst he had a more tanned tone, due to being outside so much, Riddle skin was pale. A lot of girls would think Tom Riddle to be handsome. To bad he had such a twisted personality.

"If it's not vengeance, what then?" Harry asked, getting back on his feet.

"If I tell you that, I would have to kill." The Slytherin heir answered, a smirk on his face.

A shiver ran down Harry's spine. The look in Riddle's eyes was that of a predator, ready to attack his prey at first sign of weakness. The elder walked around him surveying him. Those dark eyes missed nothing.

"Where are we?" He asked, just to break the deafening silence. He followed Riddle with his eyes, ready the curse him, should he need to.

"We are in my dreams, just like you said."

"Huh?"

"Try speaking in full sentences and using actual words. All those other sounds, that are coming out of your mouth, sounds fatuous." The elder boy stopped, right in front of him. "As for you question. I recall you saying 'In your dreams', so that is exactly where I took you."

"This is one of your dreams?" He blinked. How boring. It was neither a good dream, nor a nightmare. In fact it contained nothing. Only black and white, and the gray shades between them. "It's sort of boring, isn't it? I mean, where is your imagination? That a crazed psychopath like you doesn't have any nightmares, I understand. But even you want to accomplice something, don't you?"

Harry took a step back when he saw the flash of red in the Slytherin heir's otherwise dark eyes. Apparently he step on Riddle's toes. When the elder came closer, he drew his wand, ready to defend himself. But the wand disappeared out of his hand, crumbling into dust. When he looked up, Riddle stood before him, wand aimed at his chest.

"Maybe I should lock you up in a cage of your own. Locked in your own mind, with only the darkness as your company. Maybe then you will understand." In spite of the seriousness of the threat, the words were spoken soft, without any hint of malice. Even the dark dangerous look in Riddle's eyes was gone.

He swallowed, not all that comfortable without his wand. If Riddle decided to curse him, there was nothing he could do about it. But nothing happened. The Slytherin heir just stepped back, now playing with his wand. "Don't worry, Golden boy. I'm not going to curse you. Not yet anyway. For now I need you. And Alas you need me." The older boy smirked again.

"And why is that?" Harry crossed his arms. His words sounded stronger then he felt. He was uncomfortable, nervous.

"Because you will be stuck in this place if I don't assist you."

It was like someone poured a bucket of ice cold water over his head. If not for Riddle he would be stuck here forever. That was something he didn't want. Wandering these shades of gray for the rest of his days, that just sounded horrific.

This was exactly the kind of reaction Riddle expected. He walked straight in a trap. If he wanted to get out of here, there was something he needed to do for the Slytherin heir, he just knew that. To the elder boy this was all a game. If he wanted to win this game, he had to play it. There was no other choice. It was that or submitting to whatever Riddle wanted and probably forfeiting his own live.

"What do you want?"

"A promise."

"Again, what do you want."

The Slytherin heir smirked yet again. "I want you to promise me that you will visit me each and every day, for at least half an hour, no exceptions. You will then talk to me about everything that is going on in the world. Especially about my, like you put it so nicely, 'hideous older version'. In return I will let you out of my dream and promise I will never lock you in here again, unless you break your own promise. Then, of course, I will drag you back and make sure you will never leave this place, ever."

"Fifteen minutes."

"It is not up for negotiation. These are my therms. If you don't agree, be my guest and spend an eternity here, with me."

This was a nightmare, no worse. This was absolute hell.

* * *

During the conversation, the boy had paled considerably. Harry was like an open book with his emotions. A storm of emotions swirled through his eyes. He was even able to read Harry's thoughts just by looking at his features. Anger. Confusion. Disbelieve. Shock. Fear.

After that a rave look locked in place. Foolish little Gryffindor. Bravery would not save him from the game he was playing. The boy would learn that soon enough.

"Seeing how it's not up for negotiation, I've no other choice. I accept." The golden boy held out his hand, in order to seal the agreement, but he did not take it. This promise was magical.

"'I promise' will do fine." He stated. If it could be helped, he would not touch anyone. Ever since he was little he hated human touch. Humans did it for all the wrong reasons, groping him with their filthy hands. It was despicable.

"I promise." The Gryffindor Golden boy said flatly. He could feel the magic taking effect. A new tread wrapped around his arms, binding the other to him even more. The first stage of his plan was complete now. Soon enough the boy would be checkmate. He would capture the kind of the light-side and make him his own. His puppet, to do with what he pleased.

"Now get me the bloody hell out of here."

"Language Harry!" he said yet again. Didn't the boy have any manners? It was rude to swear so much. "If you feel the need to pronounce yourself more expressive, there are other words to do so."

"Shut up. It's your fault I'm so angry in the first place."

He smirked. "t may be my fault, but who are you angry with? Me? Or perhaps yourself? It were not my words that dragged you in this. You decided to play this game, when you opened that diary yesterday."

Horror filled the boy's eyes. How easy it was to manipulate such a young mind into believing whatever he wanted him to believe. Or so he thought. The look in Harry's eyes changed again, restoring his Gryffindor stubbornness. Defiance filled those killing curse green eyes.

"Like hell it is. It's your bloody fault, I'm angry with you."

He sighed. It was going to be hard to trained his new found toy to do exactly what he wanted the boy to do. First step: Teach the boy some manners. The swearing and cutting sentences short was just childish. The boy could be so much better than the light-side's pet. Maybe he would show harry what he could be. But first things first.

"I will see you later Harry." Was all he replied, before sending the boy back to his own mind and world. As soon as the golden boy was gone, the darkness and solitude returned. He did not expect harry to speak with him immediately. He would probably have to wait until the next day. Oh well, after spending fifty years alone, what was another day?

* * *

_00:14 (Belguim, GTM+1, Am for those who wonder.) I just realy wanted to finish this chatper today. I hope you like where I'm going with this!_


	4. Chapter 4

_I might have a beta-reader starting next chapter. Wich means there will be a delay in updating. You'll have to wait another day extra, maybe two. I apologize beforehand!_

_Also, enjoy my next chapter, and tell me what you think of it!_

* * *

July passed, and Harry held true to his word. The past two weeks he had talked to Riddle each and every day. At first he was reluctant to even open the black little book. But when he felt the magic like hooks in his skin, almost ripping out every nerve in his system, he decided it was for the best. To be honest, Riddle wasn't all bad. If you looked past his smug and arrogant personality, you would find an intelligent and strong person, capable of understanding even the most complicated things.

But that didn't mean he enjoyed talking to the Slytherin heir. It was better than not talking to anyone at all, but he preferred other company. Besides the elder always only asked the same questions. _What is Voldemort doing? Have you heard anything from Dumbledore? Why do you swear so much?_ He usually ignored that last question. The most terrible part of all was the infinite questions about himself. He flat out refused to tell Riddle anything about himself. He didn't even tell the elder about the Dursley's. Today would not be different.

The second of august was hot, to hot. Seeing how his aunt didn't want him inside, defiling her neatly cleaned kitchen, he went out, caring the diary in his pants back pocket. Riddle would probably kill him if he saw how he treated the little book. It was almost folded in two, otherwise unable to fit in said pocket. He couldn't care less.

When he arrived at the playground, he sat down on a swing. There weren't a lot of people today, probably because of the heat. People preferred a pool on days such as this one. He himself would love to jump in a big thank filled with cold water. He could only dream about it.

Now was a good a time as any to have his daily torment with Riddle. He pulled the diary out of his pocket and grabbed a pen -a quill and ink were just to inconvenient to bring along-. Like always he opened the book at a random page to greet the elder.

_Hi._

_Greetings Harry. Is it not a bit early for our conversation?_

Harry shrugged, not realizing Riddle couldn't see him. _I've nothing better to do. _

_I can either see that as a compliment, stating that talking to me is the best way for you to spend your apparently infinite free time. Or see it as an insult, meaning that you really have nothing else to do. Taking into consideration your fondness of me, I am guessing the second one._

The words disappeared like always. Did Riddle expect him to respond to that statement? He didn't really feel like it. The Slytherin heir already knew the right answer. He was bored anyway, so best to get this annoying conversation over with.

_So...how have you been? _It was a rather stupid question, he knew that. But there was really not that much he wanted to talk about, especially with Riddle.

_You have a million questions to choose from, and that is what your imagination came up with? Is there some medical reason you can not think clear, or are you just that dull?_

_Do you have mental issues or are you just that rude?_

_Very nice Harry. I can see my influence is getting to you. _He could practically see the smirk on the elder boy's features. Riddle had no influence on him! His words and actions were his own. He was still the same boy, maybe a bit more annoyed at times, but overall there wasn't a great difference.

His eyes locked on a child, not to far away, slipping down the slide, right into the arms of his mother. The child laughed, while the mother hugged him en helped him back up the slide, for another go. For the umpteenth time he realized what he had missed, and was still missing, thanks to Voldemort. He could have had a nice normal life. Getting hugs from his mother, learning quidditch from his father, even playing with Sirius. But that didn't happen. In stead he got this life, filled with pain, murder and loneliness. His anger for Voldemort increased again, fuelled by those feelings.

He felt a pitch of magic, automatically he looked down to the diary. _Harry, we were having a conversation. I don't like being ignored._

_Sorry. I'm outside, can't concentrate that much._

For a few seconds the page remained blank, like Riddle was thinking. Then the most unexpected question appeared. _What is it like to be outside?_

_It's...nice. _

_Tell me more._

This, at least, was something he could tell. No awkward question or demands to tell more about himself. It was a nice change of topic.

_Well, it's to bloody hot. But the breeze is nice, so is the sun. We don't get much sunny days in Britain. To bad all the grass and flowers have withered because of the heat._

_You do realize I was born and raised in Britain, right?_

Harry rolled his eyes, annoyed. For once he told the Slytherin exactly what he want and then he got this response. So much for being nice. Next time he would just give some sarcastic comment, like Riddle always did.

_Tell me more._

_You forgot the magic word._

_What word? The 'I will hunt you for the rest of the day, if you don't tell me'? Oh wait, that is more then one word, just tell me._

Harry rolled his eyes again._ I meant pl..._

Before he could finish he comment, someone pulled the diary out of his hands, leaving a mark in ink behind. But like every word, the line also disappeared.

"What's this? Writing about your darling Cedric? You must miss him a lot." Dudley and his gang. This was probably the worse timing in history. He was immensely relieved that there was no way for Dudley to read the conversations he had with Riddle.

"Give it back." he hissed.

"Oh no, don't kill Cedric." Dudley said dramatically, without paying Harry any attention. The other boys, Dudley's gang, laughed, to stupid to make a remark of their own.

"Shut up and give it back!" He yelled, within a second his wand was out and pressed against Dudley's neck. "Give me back my diary." He was so angry he didn't even realise he called Riddle's Diary his own.

His cousin looked afraid all of a sudden. The other was quick to hand him back the diary, while the rest of the gang looked stupified. They, of course, didn't know about magic, otherwise they would probably be running of by now.

Harry slowly lowered his wand, pocketing the diary once more. A drop of rain fell on his nose. Followed by another one and another one. While he had been talking to Riddle a mild storm had set above Little Whinging. The sun disappeared behind a dark cloud, that unleashed buckets of water upon them. Seconds later they were al running in different directions, heading home, before they were soaked.

Dudley was only a few passes behind him, running as fast as he could. Harry's glasses got damped, rendering him unable to see clearly. He slipped and fell, barely able to put his hands down to brake his fall. His Cousin, clumsy as the oaf is, stumbled over him, landing right next to him.

Before either of them could get back up, a weird but al to familiar feeling crept over his body. The cold filled his longs, cooling of his heated body. In any other situation he would be grateful, but now he would choose the heat over the monsters lurking behind them.

He looked up, staring straight into the black void that was the dementors face. He reached for his wand, only to realise he lost it in his fall. Somewhere in the back of his mind he could hear his mother's voice, calling out to him.

He got up, stepped out of the dementors reach, before falling on the ground again, grabbing his wand. "Expecto patronum!" He yelled, putting his happiest memory in the spell. A faint silver smoke appeared, just for a second, before it disappeared again.

_Harry?_

Was that his mother? No, it didn't sounds like her. He blinked, fading into the darkness. He raised his wand again, trying to say the words of the spell once more. "Expecto pa..." Hij bit his lip. "Expect..." His mind drifted of. Pain filled his heart, fear his head.

_Harry!_

His eyes shot open again, he didn't even realise he closed them. That voice. It was most definitely not his mother.

_Get your head out of the cloud and concentrate!_

"Riddle?" he asked.

Of course it me, who else? Now focus!

He looked up again. The other dementor had grabbed Dudley, ready to administer the kiss, while the first one was to close for comfort. He raised his wand a second time, filling his mind and heart with the strongest happy memory he had. "Expecto patronum!" A silver stag appeared in frond of him, serving as a shield between him and the dementor. The creature of darkness was driven backwards. Harry got on his two feet again, driving the both dementors back, willing them to disappear. Both flew away, forced by the giant silver stag.

He ran towards Dudley, kneeling next to him. "Dudley? Are you al right?" The boy had never looked more scared in his life. His face was pale, eyes filled with anguish, trembling al over. "Come on, get up. I'll get you home."

_Leave the fat muggle, he is not worth your concern, nor your time._

"Get out of my head." He hissed, not even sure if Riddle could hear him. He helped his cousin back up, supporting the other boy, so he would not fall again.

At that exact moment Misses Figg appeared, their cat-loving neighbour. Had she seen him? This was not good. He tried to look as casual as possible, which didn't work. The fact that he had to keep Dudley from falling over any second pretty much cancelled any attempt at being dismissive.

"Hurry Harry, get inside, they might come back." She said, not looking surprised at all. "Dementors in Little Whinging? Who would believe that!"

* * *

The old lady was a squib, or that was what he gathered from Harry's thoughts. None the less he had no interest what so ever. The only thing that mattered to him, was his new found freedom and Harry's general well being.

So he ignored most of the conversation between the old hag and his puppet. He sank back into the solitude of his prison, thinking about the sheer power of Harry's magic. The boy's patronus was really powerful. A lot of adult wizards weren't even able to pull of this level of magic. He couldn't do it, that's for sure. But his repertoire was basically built on dark spells and charms. He never even tried to cast a patronus-charm, not seeing to need to do so. Perhaps, when he got his body back, he would do so, just to proof to himself he was more powerful than the boy who lived, which he was of course.

He got dragged out of his train of thoughts when a turmoil of feelings went through him. Harry's feelings. At first is was shock, shortly followed by fear and pain.

It took him a while to get past those feelings. They were constantly changing. The fear and pain passed, making room for anger and disbelieve. Only to get replaced by fear once more.

When he did finally get passed that barrier of feelings, he noticed they were alone. He could feel no other presence in the room.

_Harry?_

"Leave me alone Riddle."

_What happened?_ He asked, paying no attention whatsoever to the demand of the Gryffindor.

"It's none of your darn business."

He wanted to comment on Harry's swearing again, but decided against it. This was hardly the time to train his little puppet to be more polite._ Tell me what happened, or should I drag you back in here?_

For a moment the fear in the boy's mind increased, before it got replaced by defiance. "You can't, then you would be breaking your promise."

_I don't particularly care. I can keep you in here, until you tell me and still force the promise on you. After all you didn't state any consequences for me, should I ever break my part of the deal._

Clearly the boy was thinking about it. To bad he couldn't hear Harry's thoughts, otherwise there would be no need for him to force Harry to tell him whatever he wanted to know.

When the golden boy spoke again, he could feel the pain in his heart. "They expelled me." Harry said. "There will be an official hearing."

This was not according to plan.

* * *

_I'm so happy, my first chapter with more then 2000 words!_


	5. Chapter 5

_Just so you know guys, I'm not going to be updating every single day. It's a new story, what makes it easy for now. I'll be out this weekend, so no update's saturday or sunday._

_Krysania: Please don't rip out your hair, it would be a waste! I'm going to post the not-betaed version each time^^_

_MaiWishes: If I make them longer, you'll have to wait longer to read the next part. I don't have the time to write 5000 words each chapter. And there will be enough conversations between Harry and Riddle._

_Guest (why not register, this is zo weird!): it's a bit to soon for murder I think. And for Riddle to pop out of the diary. You'll see him soon enough!_

_To everyone else: Thanks so much for the nice reviews and the support. It makes me want to write more!_

* * *

He was furious. Not only did Harry lock him out, right after telling him he was expelled, but he also refused to talk about it. They had their 'talk' every day -although it was probably because harry had no one else to talk to now- , for half an hour, but it was all about useless things. There was no news what so ever and Harry bored him with telling him what was in the room, describing every broken toy and book on the shelves. Apparently those filthy muggles locked the boy up in his room. He got food, three times a day, but that was it. They couldn't even go out. Harry felt so much more free that day in the park. But that seemed like ages ago.

Today this was going to change. They would have a proper conversation, and Harry would let him back in. The boy's feelings were a mess, but it was the closest thing he had to feeling alive. He would prefer the messy feelings over the utter darkness and emptiness every day.

When Harry opened the diary to have their daily conversation, he waited for a greeting, like he always did.

_Hi._

_Hello Harry_. He however got straight to the point after that. _Listen, we need to talk about what happened. You can't just sit and wait for some miracle to happen._

_What would you have me do? Break down my door with magic? _

_Exactly._

_I'm in enough trouble as it is._

_If you let me out I will make sure you can go back to Hogwarts._ Harry was a good wizard, with strong magic. There was no reason to expel him, and certainly not to let the entire Wizengamot judge his actions. But it was of course a strong political move. With his older version back on the move, and such a weak minister -from what he gathered- it was only logical they would attack the one who saw the Dark Lord return. And probably Dumbledore as well, or that was what he would do, only the attempted murder would not be so weak, it would not be an attempt, just murder.

_No thanks. We're in enough trouble with one Voldemort. Besides I'm not giving my soul to you. There would be no point in convincing them to let me back when I'm death._

_Fair enough._ It was to soon to tell Harry how he was planning on regaining his own body once more. So there would be no 'soul talk', not now at least. _When is your hearing?_

_In a couple of days._

_And how are you going to get there?_

Silence. Apparently the boy didn't think it through yet. It was highly unlikely that his foolish uncle would bring him.

_Can we talk about something else?_

_No, we can not. You do not deserve this Harry. You did nothing wrong. You do realise that, do you not?_

_Yes I do!_

_Then stop acting like this is all you deserve. You saved them, more then once! You prevented my older self from coming back twice! They should be on their knees, thanking you! I know, you are a brave little Gryffindor, selfless and always helping those in need. But that does not mean they should discard you like garbage at the first sign of trouble._

_I know that. It's just..._

_It is just what? _Actually he didn't even want to know, but for the sake of this conversation and his freedom, he decided to listen anyhow.

_I broke the rules a million times, and I always get away with it. It's just not fair for al the others._

_Why did you brake those rules?_

_To figure things out._

_Which resulted into what exactly?_

_Solving the mystery's and stopping you._

_Which leads to you saving the wizarding world, and thus rendering your point mute. You are a good person Harry, they should not be punishing you. If anyone is at fault, it is those idiots at the top. But don't worry about them, They will be dealt with soon enough._

_Thanks Riddle... for the first part, I don't want to be responsible for what freakish ideas you have._

He smirked, or he would have if he had a body. Not having one was inconvenient to say the least. The point was he succeeded, the boy was feeling better. He could feel it again. Not as strong as before, but at least Harry stopped pushing him away, that was a good thing.

_You should be happy, for now they only remain ideas._

_It's not my fault you got yourself locked up in a diary._

_I am not the one locked up in a room, with a wand at my disposal, but to afraid to use it. _

It became silent. It was not for the first time he wished he could see the expression on the Golden boy's features, or see what he was doing. All he needed was patience. If his plan worked, he would not be trapped in here for long.

_There is someone here._

_Is that just an excuse o..._ Harry closed the diary, rendering him unable to 'speak'. He cursed the boy and his inability to explain before leaving. It was probably one of those filthy muggles anyway.

But seeing how he could feel Harry's emotions again -he seemed rather calm-, he would probably able to talk to Harry through their link again.

_Are you going to explain, or do I have to drag it out of you?_

"There is someone downstairs. And it's not the Dursley's." A burglar? That would only be hilarious. Or not, seeing as Harry was still locked in his room, not using the magic at his disposal.

_Should you feel the urge to be a hero and go downstairs, be a dear and take me with you_.

"Take you with me?"

_I meant the diary, seeing how I am locked in here._

"Oh, afraid to be alone in the dark?"

_I just do not want you to do anything stupid._

"Like blowing up my aunt?" He could feel a hint of amusement, but he didn't quit get it. However he did not respond, feeling a surge of magic, directly followed by five or six new presences in the room.

* * *

Harry was so relieved when he entered the dark house at Grimmauldplace. No more Dursley's. He would be with his friends and with Sirius, the closest thing he had to a family. Or at least Sirius was for him the closest to a father he ever had.

"Harry!" he looked up, Hermoine was at the bottom of a stair. She looked relieved and worried at the same time. "How have you been?" Before he could answer, she hugged him, pulling him closer.

For a moment he felt relieved, being back with his friends was comforting. But then he realised they left him in the dark all summer. Soon as she let go, he stepped backwards. He didn't even notice that his 'protectors' left, going to a meeting in another room.

"I've gone all summer without a scrap of news, and you are here, both of you." He said, looking at Ron. "You didn't even bother to tell me!"

"Harry please, not here." She looked desperate, glancing at a curtain once in a while. "Upstairs, you can say whatever you want."

Then the girl took his hand en pulled him up a flight of stairs, to the left and inside a room. There were two beds. One had been slept in, the other hadn't. But that didn't matter. As soon as they were inside the room, and Ron closed the door, he glared at both of them. "Can someone tell me what is going on?"

"We are at the headquarters of the Order of the phoenix." Ran said, it were the first words he spoke.

_The order of the phoenix?_

Riddle had been silent throughout their journey, but the Slytherin heir seemed to interested in what was going on here. Harry decided to ignore him for now. Besides, it would be weird if he started talking to a non-existent person.

"What's that? And were are we," His voice was still louder and harsher then usual.

"It's a secret organisation that's fighting against V...Voldemort." He had never heard anyone, besides Dumbledore and Hagrid the very first time they talked about it, say that name out loud, but then again Hermoine was more like him, raised in the muggle world, not knowing the danger behind a bloody name.

_Brave little girl, is she not?_

Harry rolled his eyes at Riddle's comment, but ignored him yet again. "That still doesn't explain why I was left alone for more then a month! Why you two are here, al cosy ans secretive! I saw him return! I saw how he killed Cedric! I even fought some bloody dementors and got expelled because of it!"

"Harry please." Hermoine began.

"I'm sorry mate." Ron said. "We couldn't tell you."

_Language Golden boy, how many times do I have to tell you?_

"Shut up!"

"Harry? We're sorry." Hermoine looked shocked. "Dumbledore made us swear not to."

_Look Harry, your great mentor is keeping you out of everything._

"I said shut up!" Riddle was annoying him. He could practically see the smugness on the others face. He heard a soft laugh. It only made his temper worse. His two best friends stared at him, not knowing what to say or do now.

"Harry mate?" Ron tried again, taking one step closer. "We said we are sorry."

"I know Ron, it's okay." Well it wasn't. He was still angry. But he could understand that they weren't allowed to talk about it and that they did not have a say in the matter of him moving here faster. He just felt like they could have told him something, anything.

_Feeling left out Golden boy?_

"Next time you speak, I'm going to burn you."

_You can try. But I advise against it. Burning my diary will do you no good. And it will anger me. That diary is pretty valuable to me._

"But Harry...we didn't say anything." The girl came closer, carefully placing a hand on his shoulder. "Are you alright, you look a bit pale."

He looked at Hermoine, conjuring a soft reassuring smile on his face. "I'm fine. It's been a long day That's all."

"Well." The red head said. "If you want to find out more, we could eavesdrop on the meeting?"

"What meeting?"

"You know...the meeting of the Order of the Phoenix." Fred Appeared out of nowhere, followed by his twin brother, George. They both grinned at him. "Interested?"

* * *

In the end they didn't hear all that much. Misses Weasley appeared before they could gather any more information. The only thing Harry had learned was that the ministry was trying to make him look bad, by putting al sorts of lies in the 'Daily prophet'. And not just about him, but about Dumbledore as well. They were attacking them both just so that they could deny Voldemort's return. It didn't really matter. They would soon learn the truth.

_I expected as much._

"Hmm?" Harry was keeping his interaction with Riddle at minimum. To many questions would rise, if he talked to much. They would think he really had gone crazy, talking to himself all the time.

_When you were attack by that dementor, I knew it was the ministry, who ordered it. If I were Voldemort, which I basically am, I would want to kill you myself, thus opening a path to the most logical conclusion._

Harry wandered about the house, eventually ending up in the living-room all by himself. There was this weird carpet on the wall, the drawing was that of a tree. On each branch there were portraits of people, with their name written underneath it. He walked towards it.

"Not everyone is as smart as you are Riddle."

_I will take that as a compliment. But do not dismiss yourself so easily. With the right encouragement you could be so much more._

"Your encouragement I presume? I'm not really interested in becoming one of your little deatheaters." Harry looked at the names, following it until he got at Bellatrix Lestrange. Were had he heard that name before.

_You would be no fun if you were one of my 'little deatheaters'._

"She was a deatheater, if that is what you are asking." That last bit wasn't Riddle. He turned around, a smile appeared on his face, a genuine this time.

"Sirius!"

"Hello Harry." Two seconds later he was hugging the older man. He didn't realise how much he had missed him.

_Sirius Black?_

"Yes."

"What yes?" His Godfather asked.

He let go of Sirius and looked him sheepishly in his eyes. "It's nothing. I'm just happy to see you."

_How are you related to Sirius Black? _

For the first time he smirked, knowing all to well he wasn't going to tell Riddle anything, without getting something in return. It was time to play this game the Slytherin way.

* * *

_I've left out the part were Harry talks to Tops,ad Mad eye and all the others. I hope that's okay. I didn't think it was relevant and besides, if you want to read that part, please read Hp-OotP._


	6. Chapter 6

_I hope you guyt had a nice weekend. I sure did!_

_Anyway, thank you for all the lovely reviews. Enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

_Tell me._

Harry ignored the voice inside his head, turning around in hi bed. It was annoying, Riddle had been bothering him for the past several hours. It was the middle of the night and everyone else was sleeping. He could hear Ron snoring, happy asleep, probably dreaming about quidditch or girls. What he wouldn't give to be a normal teenagers.

_You know I can not rad you thoughts, so just spill it already._

It was getting infuriating! Harry grabbed his pillow, putting it over his head. Not that it would help. Riddle was inside his head, not next to him, whispering into his ear. That last one would make it a whole lot easier.

_I am going to keep on bothering you, throughout the night, until you decide to talk to me._

That was it. He knew he was playing right into Riddle's card, but he wanted some sleep. His hearing was tomorrow! So he got out of his bed, slipping past the sleeping form of his best friend and into the hallway.

It was dark and quiet. Good, that meant no one was up. Not that he had expected otherwise, but you never knew someone could be up to go to the bathroom. He slipped downstairs, passed the living-room and into to kitchen.

_Where are you?_

"In the kitchen, why? Afraid I'll run of without you?"

_Of course not. I know as well as you do, that you can not run from me._

"Arrogant much?" One day he was going to burn that wretched diary, and if that didn't work, he would throw it in the ocean. Maybe that last one wasn't such a good idea. Who knew who would find it.

_Are you going to tell me about Sirius Black?_

"Nope. I decided against it, seeing how you can use everything I tell you against me." He grabbed the kettle to heat some water. That way if someone did came down, he had an excuse to be in the kitchen. And he would have something to keep himself busy.

_I am just curious. He did betray your parents and he killed thirteen people in cold blood._

"So what? Apparently I'm pretty fond of murderers, seeing ow I got one inside my head. How do you know all these things anyway? It was after your time."

I have a connection to my older self. I am a part of him. But this conversation was not about me. It was about your relationship to Sirius Black.

"I'm not going to tell you, so you might as well piss of, so that I can get some sleep." He poured the steaming hot water in a small cup. Already enjoying the soft smell of mint and liquorice.

_One of these days I will find a way to punish you for your bad language. _

"Do your worse. I'm not going to change anything about me because you don't like it." If anything he would swear more, just to infuriate Riddle some more. There wasn't much the elder could do to him, being just a memory in a diary.

_Oh but you are going to change. You just don't know it yet. Now, you have two choices. One, just tell me who Sirius Black is to you. Or two, suffer my never ending questions, inside your head, until you decide to tell me._

Harry sighed. He had held it off long enough. Riddle probably though the information more valuable than it actually was, just because he refused to tell it. With a bit of luck, he would be able to make a deal. "Alright, I'll tell you. On one condition. If you talk to me inside my head, I don't have to talk to you for half an hour that day. And you've to shut up, when I tell you so."

_That are two conditions._

"I don't care. You can either accept my deal, or go back to bothering me until you're bored." He sipped some of the warm liquid, letting it glide down his throat, warming him inside.

_You will tell me everything I want to know about Sirius Black and in return I will not talk to you in your head If you say so and you do not have to talk to me in through the diary for half an hour that day, If I am the one that starts talking to you first._

He blinked, not expecting it to be so easy. Maybe Riddle really did want to know more about Sirius, and their relationship. It didn't matter, he got what he wanted and there was not so much to tell. "Deal."

_You have to say 'I promise'._

Harry rolled his eyes. "I promise. And you?"

_I promise._

Like last time he felt the soft tingling of magic going through him, making their promise an unbreakable bond.

_Now tell me, what is your relationship with Sirius Black?_

"He's my g..."

"Harry?" He turned around slowly, looking straight at the man in question. Had he heard? He sure hoped not.

* * *

Sirius awoke from a nightmare for the fourth time that week. He grabbed his wand, looking around with bewildered eyes, searching for the ghost of his brother. Every since he had arrived back at his old home, he was having these nightmares. Sometimes about his parents, mainly his father, yelling at him. But mostly about his little brother, Regulus, like tonight.

He didn't know what had happened to Regulus. One day the young man was there, and the next he was gone. No one had ever seen Regulus again. He assumed He-who-must-not-be-named had killed his brother. But then again no one every found a body. His parent buried a picture. He never went to the funeral. Being back in this house was not good for him, it was suffocating him.

He whipped the sweat of his forehead. For a moment his eyes closed, knowing now it was nothing more than a dream. A moment later he climbed out of bed. He needed something strong, like a whiskey.

He left his room, going downstairs, to get some whiskey out of the cupboard in the living-room. He was barely down the stairs, when he heard a voice. The light in the kitchen was on. It was three in the morning, who would be up this early?

"...accept my deal, or go back to bothering me until you're bored." Was that Harry? There was no response, which meant the boy was on his own. He got closer to the kitchen door.

"Deal." He heard the boy say. "I promise. And you?"

He walked into to kitchen, looking at Harry's back. The boy was standing by the counter, with an empty cup before him. But there was no one else there. Not even a ghost, or his annoying house-elf, Kreacher.

"He's my g..."

"Harry?" He asked, not sure what to think about all of this. Maybe the boy was sleepwalking, He had heard that some people tend to talk in there sleep. His godson turned around, fully awake. There was something like panic in his eyes. "Are you alright?"

"I'm fine Sirius. I was just...drinking some tea."

"Yes. I can see that." He motioned towards the cup, standing next to Harry. "Who were you talking to?"

"Myself." The answer came to quick, his godson had been expecting this question. However he was not going to doubt Harry, not now at least. The boy seemed tired enough as it was.

"How come you're up?" He could beat himself. That was the most stupid question he could have asked. "I'm sorry. You're nervous ofcourse."

"Nervous?" Harry blinked.

"Because of the trial?"

"Oh yes. That's it. I'm sorry Sirius. I'm just tired." Was it him, or was harry acting really weird? There was definitely something going on. But he wasn't going to push it. When the time was there, Harry would tell it, he was sure of it.

"I'm going to grab something to drink and go back to bed, maybe you should do the same."

"I will. Good night Sirius."

"Good night Harry." He turned around, leaving the boy on his own again. When he got to the living-room, he took his Whiskey and left again, going back to bed. Halfway up the stairs he could hear Harry's voice again. Something was going on, and he would discover what is was.

* * *

_He is gone now, so tell me. _He said to the boy.

"Wait, I want to be sure his back in his room." He rolled his eyes at this. If Sirius was still near enough to hear them, he would feel it. Nonetheless he would be quiet until Harry said it was safe to talk. Not that anyone could hear him. "Alright his gone."

_So tell me, who is he?_

"He's my godfather." That was something his older self did not know. Not that is was useful information. Maybe if he ever wanted to threaten the golden boy, it would come in handy.

_That still does not explain why you seem to like him so much, after what he did._

"He didn't do anything! It was Peter Pettigrew. He was the one who betrayed my parents and you bloody well know that!"

He smirked, or at least he did in his mind, seeing how he didn't have a body of his own yet. _Ofcourse I know that. But maybe you did not. Then I would have been able to use it against you._

"You're sick Riddle."

_I am feeling perfectly fine, thank you._

"Sick in your head. Using twisted mind-games to get whatever you want. Well it's not working on me! I know who you are and what you're capable of. One day I'll destroy you!"

_If you really know who I am and what I am capable of, you would not go against me._

"I already told you, I won't be one of your deatheaters."

_And I have already told you that I do not want you to be one of my deatheaters_.

Harry wasn't stupid, but sometimes the boy could not look past the obvious. If Harry did to that, the boy would realise he was after something else, something far more valuable to him.

"Then what is it you want?"

_Like I said before, If I tell you that, I will have to kill you._

"You can't kill me you're just a memory. As long as I don't put my soul in this diary, you're nothing."

A soft laugh escaped him. The boy was so naïve. With each promise the boy made, more strings appeared between him, with each promise he got more power over the Golden boy. Sooner or later the boy was going to be his, bound by magic. A puppet on a string.

_I can not kill you yet. But that day will come. Scared Harry?_ There was a mixture of feelings again. He could feel hatred, uncertainty, and fear. Not that Harry would ever act on that last one, he was to much of a hero, to be guided by fear. Besides he was pretty sure the boy did not fear for his own life, but for the lives of his friends and family.

"I'm not afraid of you, jerk. I'm going to find a way to destroy your Diary and then it's 'Bye bye Riddle'."

_That is not very polite Harry._ He did not give any other warning, but simply pulled the invisible strings, knowing it would cause boy wonder to double over in pain. _From now on, each time you are rude in any way, or if your language does not suit me, I will punish you._

"I'm not one of your toys Riddle. I would rather die then listen to anything you have to say."

_Oh but you are. And I must say, I enjoy playing with you. Now apologize._

"Sod of." He pulled the strings again, a little bit harder this time. The boy only whimpered softly. It would be fun to make Harry kneel before him, to break his strong will in tiny bits.

"I'm sorry you're such a jerk. Not that I can do anything about it."

He laughed again. How stubborn the Gryffindor was. He was not getting anywhere tonight, he knew that. Harry was to angry with him, to do anything he would say. _We will leave it at that for tonight. Maybe you should get some sleep._

"Are you going to shut up?"

_Ofcourse I am. It would be horrible if you fell asleep during your hearing tomorrow. Good night Golden Boy._

"I would say 'goodnight' back, but I know monsters like you don't sleep, so that would be a waste of breath." He could feel how Harry got closer to his diary again, meaning the boy was going back to his room. His hold over the Gryffindor was getting stronger again.

_And stating that is not a waste of breath?_

"Of course not." The boy grinned. "I got to offend you, that's never a waste of breath. Nighty night Riddle."

Tom was amused by this. There was so much more to Harry than just the Gryffindor Golden boy. There was something of a Slytherin inside him. Yes, he was definitely going to have fun with Harry.

* * *

_I'm not sure I'm completely Happy with this Part. It seems a bit...Forced. Anyway, tell me what you think! Next up: Harry's Hearing And the return to Hogwarts!_


	7. Chapter 7

_HI again. I had time for two chapters apparently! Once again Thanks for the reviews! _

* * *

Harry was up way to early. He barely had four hours of sleep. But that didn't matter. He was used to it by now, waking up by nightmares. Quietly and quickly he got dressed, Ron was still sleeping soundly. On any other day he would probably have laughed if he heard Ron talking about spiders in his sleep., like he was doing now. But he was to nervous.

He left the room and closed the door behind him, after which he ran down the stairs. "Goodmorning Harry Dear." Misses Weasley said. "Do you want some toast or eggs?"

"No thanks Misses Weasley. I'm not that hungry."

"Nonetheless you should eat something." Sirius walked into the kitchen, pushing Harry down on a chair. "Some toast would do you good."

He looked at his godfather, a little bit confused now. Sirius wasn't the type to worry about such things as food. Something was wrong. The man sat down on opposite side of the table, looking straight into his eyes. "Have you slept at all Harry?" His godfather's voice was but a whisper, probably to make sure Misses Weasley didn't hear him. "You look tired."

"I'm fine. Besides it will all be over after today." He shrugged. Not that it was due to the hearing that he had slept so little. It was all Riddle's fault, but that was something he could not tell Sirius, at least not yet. He had no idea what to do about it himself, or what to think about it. Sirius would not be happy with this. He would figure this out himself, once they got back to Hogwarts that was.

A plate with two slices of toast was placed in front of him. "Eat up Harry." Misses Weasley said, smiling hearty at him. He looked down at the plate, really not that hungry. It was to early to eat anything and his stomach twitched each time he thought about the hearing.

"Good morning Harry. Are you ready?" He looked up from his plate, glad he had something else to focus on now.

"Morning Mister Weasley. I'm as ready as I'll ever be." He said reassuring.

"Good. We'll leave in fifteen minutes. Better to early than to late." Mister Weasley smiled at him, before going to his wife, to greet her. Harry looked back at Sirius, who was now staring intently at him.

"Are you sure everything is fine?" Sirius asked, a suspicious look in his eyes.

"Yes, I'm sure." Harry answered, very well aware what Sirius had witnessed the night before.

"You don't seam like yourself, that's all. And with you acting weird last night..."

"Is there something useful you want to say or ask? Because otherwise I'll be leaving now." A bit of irritation slipped in the tone of his voice.

"We'll talk when you get back, alright kiddo?" Sirius got up. "I'm sure you're going to do fine. There's nothing they can do to you." His godfather winked at him, before leaving the kitchen. There was no way in hell he could tell Sirius what was really going on, not with Riddle inside his head.

"Ready Harry?" He looked at Mister Weasley once more, before he nodded. How sooner this was over, how better he would feel.

He got up en left the kitchen, to put his coat and shoes on. Two minutes later he was ready to leave. But before he could go out the door with Mister Weasley, the annoying voice in his head returned.

Do not dare to leave me here. Or I will make that hearing the most unpleasant situations you have ever been in.

He had no doubt Riddle could and would do that. "Hold on. I forgot something upstairs. I'll be right back."

_Good boy._

"Shut up." He mumbled, running up the stairs. If it wasn't for Riddle's convincing argument, the rotten little book would have stayed upstairs, as far away from him as possible. He didn't need the Slytherin heir's comments during the hearing.

"Hi Ron." He said hastily to his best friend, when he came inside the room. "No time to talk, need to go." The redhead was dressing himself, not able to talk very clearly because of the big red sweater that got stuck over his had. It worked just fine for harry, this way Ron wouldn't see what he grabbed, before leaving again.

He went downstairs once more and left the house with Mister Weasley. They used the underground to get to central London, something that only amazed Mister Weasley, who thought Muggles were ingenious. They walked the rest of the way. Eventually they went down the tourist entrance -which also excited Mister Weasley- and ended up In the Ministry of Magic, only to hear that time of Harry's was changed.

_They want you to get expelled Harry._

"Yeah, I think so to." Harry muttered. The upside of this change was that he didn't have the time to worry any more.

_Be careful with what you say._

"There's not much I can say wrong, is there?" He hurried down the stairs, following in mister Weasley's footsteps. They went all the way down, to were the elevators did not reach.

Yes there is. Do not give them any other excuses to expel you.

"Since when do you care? It's not you bloody live on the line. I don't want to go back to the Dursley's and live with them for eternity. You still be stuck in that darn diary anyway. Nothing changes for you." He could feel a soft pain in his head, much like the night before, only less excessive.

_Do not test me Harry. I will still punish you for your bad language, despite of the place and time._

"Go fuck yourself." He murmured.

Mister Weasley stopped. "We're here. I can not go in with you, good luck."

"Thanks." He stepped inside the room, an all to familiar room. He had seen it before, last year, in one of Dumbledore's memories. He shiver ran down his spine. Barty crouch junior and the Lestrange's were prosecuted here.

"Mister Harry James Potter, please sit down." A woman in the middle said. He looked at the only chair available, in the middle of the room. He took place there."We are gathered here today because of the offence the prosecuted, Harry J..."

_James was your father's name, was it not?_

"Yes." He barely moved his lips, so that no one would see it. The woman in the front spoke loud enough, so that no one would hear it.

_Father's always tend to name their son's after them, it is a foolish tradition._

"You were named after your father as well." This was hardly the time and place to talk about such things.

_I know that. But I am not happy with it._

"No you wante..." Harry stopped halfway is sentence when he heard a all to familiar wam voice. Slowly he turned around, looking at the older man, that entered the room. Albus Dumbledore. He weird feeling of tranquillity fell over him.

_Why are you so calm all of a sudden? What...Dumbledore._ He could hear the hatred in the elder's voice.

Yes Dumbledore. Everything was going to be alright. His mentor would have a plan, even if the man ignored him most of the summer. And then they cold finally talk and all this awkward mess would get solved.

"Three years ago you got an official warning for under-aged wizardry, correct?" Fudge Asked, interrupting his train of thoughts.

"Yes, but that w..."

"And you admit to conjuring a patronus on the second of august in the presence of a muggle."

"Yeah I did, b..."

"Knowing that you are not allowed to do magic outside of school under the age of seventeen."

"Yes, b..."

"The facts are clear, ladies and gentlemen of the court."

_Just Interrupt him Harry. He is not going to let you speak otherwise._ Riddle said Lazily.

"I know that." He mumbled back, before straightening his back and doing exactly what Riddle said. "It was only because of the dementors." The Wizengamot became silent.

"Dementors?"

"Yes dementors. You know, big scary things, with black cloaks and rotting hands? The ones that suck out you soul? They attacked me and my nephew."

Stay calm please, You are giving me a headache with all that anger of yours.

"Shut up." He said a little bit to loud. Everyone in the room stared at him. He didn't even realize he got up from the chair.

"Excuse me Mister Potter, but we do not accept that tone of voice in this court." An older woman said.

"I'm Sorry. It wasn't meant for your ears." Uncomfortably he sat back down, looking at the dark tiles underneath his feet.

"Sorry isn't going to cut it Mister Potter." Fudge continued. "There is no reason for Dementors to wonder so far from Azkaban. Seeing how you can produce no witnesses of the event..."

"Which we can." Dumbledore interrupted. That was when Dumbledore saved his trial.

* * *

"Professor Dumbledore! He could hear Harry's voice calling out to him. It was only logical the boy wanted tot talk to him, but he would not grand Harry the opportunity. "Professor?"

He looked back. Harry was only a few meters behind him, looking straight at him. There was something wrong, something different. The boy's aura was not like it used to be. For a moment he saw the red shimmer in the otherwise beautiful warm green eyes. Voldemort, there was no other explanation.

He blinked, before turning around and disappearing in the crowd. For a moment he could have sworn Tom Riddle stood right besides Harry, as a ghost. But that was not possible. Was it?

* * *

The hearing was over and he won. From that point onwards his summer became a whole lot better. Harry, Sirius, Hermoine and the Weasley's cleaned most of the house up, so it would be more bearable to live in. He was able to ignore Riddle most of the time. Even his comments about him being an house-elf. Whatever Riddle thought, it was not an insult. House-elf were nice enough. Like Dobby, that small creature was amazing. Kreatcher on the other hand was a bit creepy.

And now it was the first of September, and he was ready to go back to Hogwarts. He hoped for once, he would have a normal year, which would be impossible, seeing how Voldemort was back.

They traded the dark house of Black for the sunny outside. Harry closed his eyes, enjoying the sun on his skin once more. Soon the rain would come, and they would be locked inside the castle for several weeks. He smiled. He was really going back!

He followed Ron, Hermoine and the other Weasley's. They were a few metres away from the house, when a black dog appeared. Harry grinned when he saw how Sirius -him being the dog ofcourse- jumped up an tried to catch some butterfly's. He was so happy to see his godfather having fun. The man had been locked up in that rotten house for to long.

At the end of the street a few cars were waiting. Tops was inside one of them. They got all in as well. Hermoine and Ron sat in the same car, as him and Sirius. Hij pulled the large black dog closer and rubbed his head.

_Do you have to keep the mutt so close?_

And Riddle. He had hidden the diary on the inside of his jacket. No one would look there, and he could carry it around were ever he went. The Slytherin Heir gave him one hell of a headache if he forgot the book by accident. He didn't want to know how bad it would be if he forgot it on purpose.

The road to King's Cross Station wasn't as long as he suspected it would be, and not nearly as uncomfortable or awkward. Riddle hadn't said a word, to his relieve.

"Harry?" Hermoine said, once they were at platform 9 ¾. "Ron and I are perfects now, we have to sit in another coupé, with the other perfects."

"Yeah sure...alright." He said, feeling a bit left out. He would be a way better perfect than Ron, he knew that and Dumbledore knew that. But once more he was left out of everything. Anger was building inside him, but he did not show it.

"We'll see you alter then mate." Ron smiled, but with little conviction.

"Sure, later guys." He saw them leave for their own compartment. This would be the first year he went to Hogwarts without his friends. It would be awkward and lonely. The black dog at his side liked his hands a few times. He looked down.

"I'll miss you Snuffles." He said softly padding the big black dog on his head. "I'll come over with Christmas I promise." The dog licked his face a few times, before turning around and going back to Misses Weasley and Thonks.

With a sigh he got on board the train, looking for an empty compartment or some people he could share it with.

_I do not get it, why are your friends so important? When you are around them, you get angry all the time, like two minutes ago._

"Shut up Riddle." He hissed.

_Why should I? Did I hurt your feelings? They are not worth your time Harry._

"They are my friends!" A few people looked out there respective coupé doors. Only then he noticed how people were looking at him. He heard whispers.

"He really is crazy."

"The ministry was right."

"Who would believe him anyway."

"Did you see that?"

"Yeah, he talks to himself!"

"I'm not crazy!" He yelled. The compartment became quiet. What was wrong with these people? There was evidence enough. Cedric got killed! No, they didn't understand, they didn't realise. Very much like last year, he was on his own again.

"Harry!" He looked up. "Come and sit with us." It was Neville, and Ginny. He smiled softlyat them. Maybe this train-ride wouldn't be so bad after all. He walked towards their coupé and sat down. The door was closed behind him.

"Hi guys."

Isn't that Ginevra?

"Yeah." He mumbled.

_She sure has become more beautiful. _

"Shut up." He hissed. The other three looked at him, questionably.

"Harry are you Okay?" Neville asked. He was the millionth person to ask that question, it was driving him insane!

"I'm fine." He said almost automatically. "Don't worry about me."

"It must be wrackspurts flying through your brain." The third person said. She was a bit weird, with her necklace of butterbeer caps and her upside down magazine. Later she introduced herself as Luna Lovegood a fourth year Ravenclaw.

_What are wrackspurts?_

"I have no idea." Harry had this feeling that this year was going to be very eventful.

* * *

_I think this is the longest chapter I've ever written. Oh well, hope you like!_


	8. Chapter 8

_Hi guys, there are going to be less updates. Imagination enough, but not enought ime. Do forgive me and enjoy the next chapter!_

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The journey to Hogwarts was a whole lot less unpleasant then he thought it would be. He didn't mind any more that Ron and Hermoine were somewhere else. Neville, Ginny and Luna were great company as well. Although the blonde was a bit strange.

It all went wrong when Neville showed them his new plant. Mimbulus mimbeltonia. It looked like a small cactus, except that it was covered in boils rather than spines. Neville wanted to show them what it could do. That's why all four of them were covered in weird smelling green puss. It was ofcourse at that very moment Cho Chang entered the coupé.

Harry looked at the dark haired girl. A small blush crept unto his features. This was probably the worse timing ever! "Uhm...hi." He said, totally embarrassed.

"Hello." She said, blushing as well. "How was your summer?"

"Great, thanks." He said, although it was a lie. Everything seemed great when she was in the room. "Yours?"

"Well...I'm okay." It was almost a whisper. It was only then Harry realized her summer must have been terrible, with Cedric's death and all.

He didn't know what to say anymore. It was hardly appropriate to talk about Cedric with all the others here. Besides, there was not much he could say.

"I'll go now." She said softly, before smiling at him en closing the door once more. His three friends looked at him with compassion. He shrugged. Hopefully, he would get another chance. He was already very glad that Riddle didn't comment for once.

Their next 'visitor' was not so welcome. By that time it was midday already and Ron and Hermoine had already returned.

"Hello scarface." Harry closed his eyes at the familiar sound of voice. Draco Malfoy, the new Slytherin perfect, like Hermoine announced two minutes ago.

He looked up. "What do you want Malfoy?" His rage was already building, just by seeing the blondes face.

"Just seeing how you're doing, now you have to compete with Weasel. How does that feel?" The blonde drawled.

"Shut it!" He yelled, before he could stop himself. It was horrible, not because Ron didn't deserve it, but because Dumbledore hadn't chosen him. He would have been a good perfect.

"Looks like I've hit a sensitive spot." The Slytherin grinned.

He wanted to yell at Malfoy and curse him into next week, but he didn't. Something was holding him back, something gave him a weird feeling of tranquillity. The diary, in the pocket of his jacket, was burning, he could feel it against his skin. A moment later his whole posture changed. It was unnoticeable to all except those closest to Harry. His shoulders straightened , his body relaxed and all the warmth vanished from his eyes.

He looked straight at the Malfoy heir, there was a twitch at his lips. "Are you sure you want to bully me?" He asked, his voice now soft, with a hint of malice. "I am sure I could think of something Voldemort will not be pleased with. I doubt he would be happy to hear that one of his future deatheaters is nothing more than a coward. A ferret, like Moody showed us all last year. Or perhaps I should tell him how you offered me your friendship. I seriously doubt he would be happy to have someone like you around him. "

Malfoy quivered when he heard that name. "What is wrong?" Harry Asked. "Do you not like the name of your future master?" He didn't notice his friends were all staring at him in horror.

"I'll get you Potter, I swear!" The Slytherin hissed before turning around and running away. He smirked perfectly pleased with what just happened. The boy had it coming.

"Harry mate, that was creepishly amazing." Ron stared it him, with a look of horror and awe in his eyes.

"It was not amazing." Hermoine said firmly. "It was wrong, and you know it Harry. What's gotten into you?"

"It's...nothing. He just pissed me off that's all." Harry knew it wasn't true, his anger had diminished. And when he was angry, he would have cursed Malfoy, not scare him of with words. That was Riddle's work. Riddle had given him those words. It had been like Riddle had possessed him. It was giving him the creeps.

"If you say so." Hermoine looked at him, he could tell by her look that she didn't believe him. It didn't really matter they would never know what was going on, he would be rid of Riddle before they could.

The remainder of the ride was relatively uneventful. They ate lunch, played some games and talked a lot. Ron and Hermoine reappeared once in a while, they had their perfect-rounds.

By the time they were al changed into their Hogwarts uniforms, they arrived at Hogsmead station. And for once Hagrid wasn't waiting. Harry didn't notice his oldest and biggest friend was missing, because he was to busy stuffing the diary in the inner-pocket of his robe. When he finally did look up, they were at the carriages.

"Have they always pulled the carriages?" He asked, out of the blue, starring at the bony black-leathered winged horses.

"The carriages are pulling themselves, like always." Hermoine looked suspicious at him again. "Are you sure you're feeling alright Harry?"

"Don't tell me you don't see those horses." Harry said, for lack of a better word. He looked up. "I'm fine, how many times do I have to tell you?"

"There's nothing there mate." Ron looked bit nervous now.

He looked at the strange creatures once more, before entering the carriage. He sat next to Luna, who sat across from Neville. Ron and Hermoine were sitting opposite from him.

"Don't worry Harry, you're not going crazy, I can see them to." Luna smiled at him, but her words didn't really reassure him. If this was some stupid trick from Riddle, he was going to kill the Slytherin heir, rather sooner that later.

* * *

Tom was tired, to tired. That little stunt of his, had cost him a lot of energy. But it was worth it. That little snake was not going to ruin Harry's mood. He needed to keep the Gryffindor as happy as possible, if he wanted to get anything out of the boy that is. Besides he never liked the Malfoy's, not even Abraxas. The slimy git always pretended he was better than anyone else. But he had learned the elder boy a hard lesson. No one was better than him, he didn't even had any equals. All the Slytherin's of his era were death now anyway, or very old, they would be no match for him.

At any rate he was tired. He dropped out of Harry's head, not paying any attention to whatever that was happing around his puppet. Nothing could go wrong now. They were at Hogwarts. The golden boy seemed tired to, no particular emotions were drifting towards him, which was good ofcourse.

The peace didn't last long. Harry's emotions were flooding in him. At first it was just worry, but later -how much, he did not know-, there came anger and hurt. Something was going on, something really bad. Tom got out of his slumber and focused on Harry once more.

"Drop death Simon." The words came in very clear, right at the moment Harry's emotions hit him the hardest. It was not just the anger and the hurt, it was a pain that went much deeper, right into his heart. It was something Tom could not explain.

A moment later it became quiet. He used this moment to talk to Harry. _What happened?_

The boy didn't answer immediately, instead he heard whisper of incantations. Silencing-charms. He waited patiently, knowing all to well he wouldn't get anything if he pushed the boy.

"It's nothing." The golden boy replied.

_That did not sounds like nothing Harry. Do not lie to me. _There was a small threat present, ensuring Harry would tell the truth now.

"It's just one of my roommates, Simon. He doesn't believe me or Dumbledore." Harry said reluctantly.

He suddenly understood the pain in the boy's heart. It was the fear to be alone again, to have to bare everything alone, no one to support him._ I am amused to see how the lord of the light is falling so quickly. It is a shame however how he is pulling you with him._

"Why did I even thing something useful would come out of you?" Harry sighed.

_Excuse me, ofcourse. If it is any comfort to you, Harry, I believe you._ He teased.

"Ofcourse you do, you git! You are him!" And Harry was getting enraged again, that was something he could not have.

_I do apologize. I was just having a bit of harmless fun. Don't blame the psychopath for not knowing the time and place. _Yes, he knew he was a mas-murdering psychopath, but he didn't really care. He just hoped his words would lighten Harry's mood a bit.

"Well, this is not the time nor the place Riddle." The boy sighed again. "This is going to be a horrible year."

_Pray tell me, why is that?_ He could guess one reason, him. But the Gryffindor was going to get used to him, he was sure of that.

"First there is you. You're molesting my brain, giving me giant headaches and talking in my head. Because of that, and the weird creatures I saw earlier, my friends think I'm going crazy. Secondly there is Umbridge, our new defence-against-the-dark-arts teacher. She's from the ministry, who are going to interfere with Hogwarts. Which means everyone is going to hate me for better part of this year. Oh yes, there's also your ugly other half, walking around, killing at will, raging through Engeland, doing whatever the hell he pleases!" The boy was practically yelling now. "Not even my own dormmates and friends believe me!"

Riddle ignored the part about him, already knowing why Harry hated him so much. _If your friends hate you or do not believe you, they are not worthy of the word friend. Furthermore how much can one ministry official do anyway? Do not concern yourself over that. I am sure your light lord will protect his favourite sacrificial lamb from harm. _He smirked. _Moreover, does this mean you think I am handsome?_

"Don't meddle with my friends Riddle, I know perfectly well whom I can thrust." Oh yes, the boy had ginger and mudblood, that was a great consolation. "I'm not worried about what she can do, but about what Fudge can do. He is the minister of magic."

Tom waited for his last words to sink in. It didn't take long. "No!" The golden boy almost screamed. "I don't mean you're handsome, I meant your are less ugly than your older self, that's all!"

_A soft laugh escaped his lips. Are you sure? I am told many people find me attractive. It is part of my charm._

"I'm sure! You're as ugly as hell." Typical boy's reaction, denying everything. Harry was not his type ofcourse, he didn't even have a type. Love was not something he participated in.

_Oh yes, now I recall. You are in love with that beautiful girl, with the black hair. Cho was her name I believe. Your heart started to race the minute she entered the coupé. How cute._ He smirked.

"You're an idiot, Riddle." He could feel the embarrassment, to bad he was still to tired to see the boy. With their bond so strong he was able to get glimpses of what Harry saw. It was not much, be he had seen the little redhead again. She was less childish, more mature. He was sure many guys liked her. He did not. She was still a little blood-traitor.

_Language Harry. I have ignored it the last few times, but that was only because you were to angry. Do not insult me any further._ He said sternly.

"Or what? Going to pull some stupid trick with my brain again? I'll get used to the headaches eventually. And those weird creatures don't scare me." Harry replied sarcastic.

_What you have felt was nothing, puppet. _He said softly. _I can make it a whole lot worse. But I do not know anything about strange creatures._

"Do your worse Riddle." Harry snorted. "And I mean the creepy horse-like creatures that pull the carriages."

_I will, If you do not stop challenging me. _He raised an eyebrow -still only in his thoughts, having no body will do that to you-._ Those are called Thestrals Harry._

"I've never seen them before."

_That is because you can not see them, until you have seen death. _He had started to seem them around the age of fifteen as well, when he killed for the first time. But unlike Harry he had already known what they were.

Harry however did not respond anymore. He could feel the boy's pain, but subdued, the boy was hiding his feelings well. Maybe Harry was stronger the he give him credit for.

* * *

_I'm quit pleased about the second part. i just love Riddle! _


	9. Chapter 9

_Hi everyone. It's been a week now. I've been sick for a couple of days and then my internet didn't work. So there was a bit of a delay._

_ Katconan: Yes I've wondered about that myself. but seeing how Hermoine didn't know in the books (or was it the movie?) she doesn't know here. Maybe something like that isn't mentioned in 'Hogwarts, a history'. I've never read it, so I can't say! But yes, she thinks they're crazy, or at least that Harry is losing it, which he probably is._

_ MaiWishes: No we will not be following the entire storyline of the book. I had to start somewhere. And Umbridge is not going to change her mind, just because Harry kept the diary. Things will start changing soon enough!_

_To all the others: Thanks for the reviews, fav's and follows. Enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

Chapter 9

One week into school and Harry was going crazy already. It was horrible. Umbridge was the worse professor ever. She didn't listen to him, which resulted in detention for him and her determination not to learn them any spells whatsoever. On top of that students hated him even more than they did last year, if that was even possible. These things kept on happening to him, he was getting sick of it.

Ron and Hermoine looked at him with pity. They felt it as well, for supporting him and Dumbledore, but it was not the same. Everyone knew him, his two best friends could pas by unnoticed, if they wanted. The loneliness crept back in his heart.

Monday at breakfast it all changed for him. He was staring at his plate, not at all hungry. Even his most favourite food could not persuade him to eat. He closed his eyes for a moment, hoping this was all one very big nightmare, that there were no more people looking at him with hatred in their eyes, no more whispers behind his back.

"Harry mate, everything okay?" Ron barely swallowed his toast, before asking him the most annoying question in the universe.

"I'm fine." He replied automatically.

"You're not eating." Hermoine stated the obvious just to make it clear that she didn't like it.

"I've noticed." He said flatly.

"Do something about it, you're skinny enough as it is."

"You're not my mother 'Moine." He didn't feel like eating, and all their worrying was annoying him even more then usual.

"No, I'm your friend. Friends are allowed to be worried and tell you what's best for you."

"Oh yes." He said. "Why didn't you tell me then that the best course of action several years ago, was leaving you two behind, instead of dragging you into my mess, over and over again."

"Harry..." She looked even more worried than before.

"I'm fine Hermoine! I can take care of myself!" He left his seat, without looking at the two of them again, he left the Gryffindor table and the great hall.

Even in the corridors people kept staring at him, it was getting on his nerves. It didn't matter where, he just needed to be alone. So he ran, away from everyone, away from the classrooms, up the stairs, higher and higher, until he ended up in the astronomy-tower. During the day no one came here, what was just fine by him.

He locked the door behind him, before he sat down on the window-ledge. He closed his eyes once more, letting the breeze play with his hair. The sun disappeared behind a cloud, making it darker than it should be.

_Could you at least try to keep your emotion to yourself? You are giving me a huge headache._

"Serve you right." He mumbled back, not caring for Riddle's pain. The elder had caused him more pain and problems in the last couple of years – and yes he meant Voldemort as well- then he could have caused for himself. More then ever he wished he was just a normal boy, a normal teenager. But that was something he could not get. The scar was more a curse to him, then it would ever be to Voldemort. Besides the snake-like man didn't feel any of the pain anymore, not since the ritual a few months ago.

_Alright I will listen. Tell me what it is that bothers you._

"Why should I? You're not interested. And I doubt you can help me with it." He seriously did. Everyone loved Riddle when he was at school. He was probably every teachers favourite, always getting good grades and all the other students loved him. Riddle had a charm over him, if you didn't know the real boy underneath, you just had to love him.

_Try me._ De elder said. _I am sure I can help you._

"You wouldn't understand, you were the prince of Slytherin, The perfect and the teachers pet." Harry didn't want to talk about it with someone who couldn't possibly understand.

_Ah, I think I know what this is about. Thrust me Harry, you and I are more alike then you think. I was not always the Prince of Slytherin, you know._

"You weren't? You didn't just march into Hogwarts, head held high, saying 'I'm Voldemort, you will all be my deatheaters from now on!', or something like that?" It was hard for him to see anything other than a smaller version of Riddle walking through those big doors, willing everyone to listen.

_Harry, I was eleven and like you I did not know anything about the wizardingworld. I can show you. My memories do not lie. _

"No, but you do." He didn't trust Riddle, not one bit. Who said it was actually a memory that the elder was showing him? He had already been stuck in one of Riddle's 'dreams', and that was a mistake he was not going to repeat, not if he could help it.

_All I have are memories. For the time being at least._ There was something about Riddle's words that gave him the chills. The Slytherin Heir was up to something, he knew that, but he still didn't found out what it was, that was terrifying him. He could hardly ask Ron and Hermoine for help, they didn't even know he still had the diary!

_Harry, open the diary. Watch it, like you watched me catch that oaf three years ago, then make up your mind._ It was more of a command then a request.

But he still didn't trust it. Riddle lied about Hagrid as well. The Slytherin heir had made him believe that it was his oldest friend, who opened the chamber of secrets, just to gain his trust. At first he believed it, until he asked Hagrid and later on Aragog. "You lied about Hagrid."

_Yes, I did, but the memory was no lie. I did capture him, made him pay for the death of poor Myrtle._ Riddle dismissed it, like the life of a fellow student wasn't all that important, for the Slytherin, it probably wasn't.

"You're a real coward you know. Letting someone else take the blame for what you did. What? Were you afraid that you couldn't talk yourself out of that mess? The ever charming Tom Riddle, revealed to be a snake, a murderer. No that proba..."

_Harry! Open the God-damn dairy!_ Riddle snapped.

Harry swallowed. He had never heard the elder swear, not once in the past weeks. Riddle never showed his emotions, not in his voice, not in his eyes. He was to composed for it. The fact that he was doing it now, meant that the Slytherin heir was particularly pissed of, for once Harry thought it best to just do what the other asked, just this once.

"Language Tom my dear." He mimicked, a smirk on his face, while getting the diary out of his cloak. The little book was still folded in two, there was a line in the middle. He was pretty sure that Riddle would massacre him if he ever saw the state of his precious diary, which wouldn't happen. If it was his choice, Riddle would never ever leave this diary again.

_Do not test my patience, Potter._ The Slytherin heir hissed.

"What? I can't swear, but you can? That's not really fair, now is it?" Harry pouted.

_Life is never fair, get over it._ Riddle's tone of voice changed from annoyed back to his ussual emotionless speech. _Now let me share my life with you._

* * *

Tom was angry with himself. He had lost him temper, in front of the boy. That could not happen again, no matter how annoying the Gryffindor might be. It was important to let Harry see another side of him. He needed to gain the boy's trust.

That's why he was prepared to show Harry a part of his life, something he would have kept secret otherwise. The boy needed to realise that they were not so different. They were both orphans, left behind in the care of the worse possible muggles, which resulted in a terrible youth for the both of them. Neither of them knew about magic or the wizardingworld, until someone else told them they would be going to Hogwarts. And, like him, Harry was an exceptionally strong wizard, capable of so much more, if someone would just train him right.

Even their life on Hogwarts was somewhat the same. The whole school had known him, for his good looks, his excellent grades and his charisma. Everyone knew Harry as well, although the reasons were not the same.

They even looked alike, which probably scared him the most.

He closed his eyes, letting the memory in. The black's and grey's and white's shifted, changed around him. A moment later he sat on small chair, in the middle of the great hall at Hogwarts. He knew Harry was there somewhere, unseen. He was unable to communicate with Harry now, because he was stuck inside one of his memories.

Tom had to play his part, he could not change the lines, no matter how much he wanted to. He could corrupt the memory, but that would take time and the younger boy would probably notice in an instant. So for now he would just let the memory consume him.

The sorting hat stripped him of his sight, he did not complain, he wasn't even nervous, unlike most others. "Slytherin!" The sorting hat yelled.

He got up, with grace. Even when he was eleven he knew he had to look like he was above everyone. He took his place at the Slytherin table, next to an older boy, with long blond hair, knotted in a ponytail. The boy looked at him, with his piercing light blue eyes.

"Riddle?" The boy asked.

"Yes, Tom Marvolo Riddle." He answered, keeping his face straight, not showing any emotions whatsoever.

"I don't believe I ever heard that name before, did you Walburga?"

"I don't believe so." A girl, with long black hair, said. She looked quit beautiful. The girl had high cheekbones, a perfect pale skin and storm-grey eyes. She looked at him with those grey eyes, examining him.

"Tell me, Riddle." The blond-haired boy continued. "Are you related to any pure blood family's?"

"Does that matter?" He was unsure, because he didn't know his family, not that he showed that. All he knew was that his mother died when he was born. His father never came to pick him up.

"In Slytherin it does. Every single Slytherin is a pure-blood or at least half. That's our policy." De elder boy smiled coolly. "Salazar would not be happy if a mudblood filled our ranks."

"I am no mudblood!" He didn't know what it meant, yet, but he could guess the meaning. Mudblood, mud meaning contaminated and blood referring to the line of ancestors from which you descended. In short someone with muggle-parents. He rather liked the word, but he was sure he was no such thing, and he would proof it. How could he anyway? He was powerful, he knew that, and a powerful wizard like him could not descent from some muggles. "Who are you anyway?"

"Abraxas Malfoy, Heir to the Malfoy household. You better watch your steps around me Riddle, I do not take kindly on insolent mudblood brats." The blond said.

The vision changed. They left the great hall and ended up in the Slytherin dorm. For a moment he could see Harry. The boy was like a ghost, standing between the other Slytherins. As soon as the image was in place, Harry was no where to be seen and he fell back in the pattern of his memories.

"Riddle." He looked up from his book, one of the many he had scattered around him. Abraxas stopped in front of him, flanked by Walburga Black and two boys. The boys were his classmates. One was called Cyril Lestrange, the boy was smaller then he was, with dark brown hair and brown eyes. There was nothing special about him. The other was called Elias Prince, another pureblood. From what he had seen Elias was an artist in potions.

"Malfoy." He replied, going back to his book.

"I think it is time we learn you a lesson in manners." The Malfoy heir continued.

"I believe I have more manners then you do. At least I know how to drink pumpkinjuice without spilling it all over my clothes." He said, referring to the incident only a couple of days back.

"That idiot Potter tried to hex me!" The third year scowled.

"Then why are you here, bothering me, instead of pestering your rival?" He did not have the time for this, he was to fixed on finding his real inheritance.

"Because unlike Potter, you are here. And I need someone to let some steam of, seeing how you are the only mudblood here..." Malfoy trailed of.

"And you need yourself and three idiots to do so?" He asked calmly.

"No, they are just here to watch." Malfoy said, not correcting the term 'idiots'.

The pain that followed was unbearable. He had heard about the three unforgivable curses, but he had yet to try them and learn them. Abraxas apparently learned a few things, being his senior and a pureblood. The dark arts are not unknown to purebloods. A moment later everything went black before his eyes.

* * *

The vision disappeared and harry was back in the Astronomy-tower. He looked at the black little book, before closing his eyes. The memory seemed real enough, but he could hardly believe that little Voldemort couldn't defend himself against one of his own minions.

"You want me to believe that one of your deatheaters cursed you? I thought your were supposed to be powerful." He said.

_I am powerful. I was powerful back then as well, but I did not know the magic I know now. _Harry could almost hear the bitterness in those words. _Abraxas learned his lesson later on. It took me only a few months to catch up with him. As you know, I am a genius. _

"You also think you are better then anyone else and your arrogant. Your intelligence does not make up for all your bad traits." Harry replied flatly. "Including lying."

_I am not a liar Harry. I am simply good at deceiving lesser people._ The light tone of voice changed to something darker. _And punishing those who cross me._

"I crossed you, four times now. And defeated you." He felt smug right now, knowing he beaten such an intelligent opponent more then once, even if it was only by chance. There was a whole lot of luck involved, but that didn't matter. He would defeat Voldemort again, and make sure he would never rise again. Not even the lesser evil trapped inside this diary.

_I know that, but then again you are not a lesser person Harry, although you have yet to realise that. Let me show you how I paid Abraxas Malfoy back for his...kindness._

Before Harry could Answer he was sucked in by the Diary once more, entrapped in the memory.


	10. Chapter 10

_I hope you'll like my new chapter. I'm still not entirely sure where I'm going with this, but I felt the need to show a small part of Tom's past, like in the last chapter. I'll probably do that more often, in orde for harry to trust dumbledore more._

_Krysania: I don't know what Tom really wants or thinks yet, not entirely at least. i think he knows Harry is diffrent from the rest, and has more power then most, but it is possible he's using it to get what he wants._

_Katconan: I just feel the same way you do. Tom once was a normal first year, with little knowledge of magic or how the wizardingworld worked. I doubt the Slytherins would have just let him be. But like i'm showing here, I think Tom caught up pretty fast._

_Enjoy!_

* * *

Tom hated Malfoy, with every fibre of his body. The blond was arrogant, annoying and never left him alone for more then five minutes. One would think Malfoy wanted something else from him. But Tom knew better. The Malfoy heir was pestering him, because the elder thought Tom was a mudblood. Which was untrue.

Tom had been researching his family, or at least what he knew of them. The woman from the orphanage had never been able to tell him who his mother was, she didn't know anything about her, besides the fact that she was young and demanded his name would be Tom Marvolo Riddle. But Dumbledore knew who his mother was. Merope Gaunt. She had been a pureblood. He didn't know anything about his father, only his last name, which he carried now. There was no wizardfamily with the name 'Riddle', pureblood or otherwise. Which meant his father was a muggle. That was something he would look into later. For now he was pleased with the wizard-side of his family.

Everything would change now. Tom had been practising his magic as well. While others were busy with silly things like quidditch and girls, he had been studying, light magic as well as dark magic. He had been preparing everything for this exact moment. Now he was ready to face the older boy.

He turned the yellowish page of the old book lying upon his lap. It was another book about the dark arts. Professor Slughorn had let him borrow it from the forbidden section. The old fool was easily manipulated by his 'Brilliant, but poor orphan boy'-act. If he just asked it in the right way, their potions-professor would give him everything.

"Riddle!" He was interrupted by the Malfoy heir, flanked by his three cronies.

"Is there a problem, Abraxas?" He asked, not looking up or otherwise acknowledging the blond's presence. Tom knew perfectly well what the problem was, he was after all seated in the chair Malfoy claimed for himself.

"Yes, you know there is, you insolent brat!" The boy hissed. "And it's Lord Malfoy for you."

"Lord Malfoy?" He looked up for the first time. "I prefer to call you Abraxas. Anything else?"

He was not going to give into this idiot Malfoy again. It was time for things to change. He had put up with the blond's harassments from the first day, al through Christmas, this was going to end now.

"You are sitting in my chair." The Malfoy heir scowled. "But perhaps this is you inviting me to give you another lesson in manners."

"I thought we already settled who had the most manners. You did not come out on top, Abraxas." He dismissed al four of them, just by absorbing himself in his book again. By then they had the attention of everyone currently seated in the Slytherin common room. They were all looking at was happening, not interfering, knowing this was a fight for power, waiting to see who was going to come out on top.

"I will teach you a lesson, you filthy little mudblood!" The elder sneered.

Tom got up, his book dropped from his lap onto the hard stone floor, his wand in his hand in mere seconds. "Call me a mudblood one more time, Abraxas, I dare you."

"Mudblood." Malfoy said, an evil grin upon his face.

Apparently the blond thought he had won, finding his enemy's week spot. But nothing was farther from the truth. Tom knew he had to remain calm if he wanted to win this. Malfoy was a strong opponent, otherwise the boy would not be the Prince of Slytherin at age of thirteen. But he also knew he was stronger and he had gained a lot of knowledge and power of the past couple of months. And if he played this correct, he would not only defeat Malfoy, he would also win the respect of his fellow snakes.

Tom threw a spell first, knocking Malfoy's wand out of his hands. "Pick it up." He said.

The blond just stared at him, those cold blue eyes now filled with disbelieve. It had probably been a while since anyone disarmed him, let alone a first year.

"I said, pick it up." His voice was soft, but with no room for disobedience. "You have this one chance Abraxas, take it."

The elder picked up his wand and aimed it at him. Now Malfoy did not wait to attack, he threw one spell after the other, not waiting to catch is breath.

Tom grinned. This was going exactly as planned. The Malfoy heir was driven into a corner, knowing al to well what would happen if he should lose. But Tom was more focused on the task at hand, then Malfoy was. He blocked or deflected every single spell, without even breaking a sweat.

When he got the chance, Tom aimed a spell of his own at the Malfoy heir. The spell hit the other right in the middle of his chest, throwing him backwards, against the wall, not hard enough to knock him out cold, but hard enough to hurt him.

Tom stepped towards the other, picking up Malfoy's wand along the way. It had never been so quiet in the Slytherin common room, all eyes still fixed upon the both of them.

He leaned over the boy, looking in those bright blue orbs, now filled with absolute horror. "I am no mudblood, Abraxas." He hissed, almost snake-like. "I am a true Slytherin, a descendant of the Gaunt Family. Even you must have heard of them."

"The Gaunt family?" Malfoy whispered, yet everyone inside the common room could hear him.

"Yes." Tom replied, still with a dangerous hiss in his voice. "You own me your allegiance."

The look in Malfoy's eyes changed, the confusion and horror made place for disbelieve and fear. Apparently the blond had figured it out, the lineage form which he descended. "Salazar, that's not possible!"

"Oh but you know it is." Tom stepped backwards, playing with Malfoy's wand, looking at it, instead of the boy himself. "I believe I need to punish you now for your bad manners and disobedience."

He aimed his wand at the boy, a smile crept upon his face, cruelty in his dark blueish grey eyes. "What was that spell you used on me again? The cruciatus curse? I believe it was." He licked his lips, before casting one of the tree unforgivables. "Crucio!"

Malfoy tossed and turned, his muscles tensed. The boy's whole body trembled. But to his credit Malfoy did not scream, not once. After a few seconds he cut the curse again, looking at the Malfoy heir, lying at his feet, tears streaming down his face.

"Do you like this Abraxas? Being tortured? I can do this all night you know." He stated. He would do this all night, until Malfoy broke, until the elder apologised and begged on his knees for forgiveness. But he would not ask it, Malfoy had to do it all by himself.

"No." The blond whimpered. "Please, stop."

"What did you say? I did not quit catch that." Tom asked friendly, but without the warmth in his voice.

"Please Riddle, stop it." Malfoy repeated. "I beg you."

"Please who?" The cold returned to his voice.

"I...I don't understand." Malfoy whispered confused.

"Still no manners, apparently you have not yet learned your lesson. Crucio." He continued the curse, just for another few seconds. Malfoy knew exactly what he wanted to hear. The blond was no fool.

The elder boy's body jerked, every muscle in his body strained to the maximum. And for the first time a sound came over those pale lips. "Please." Tom could barely hear him. "Please, My lord!"

At that Tom smirked. He stopped the curse immediately. "Now that was not so hard, was it Abraxas?"

"No." The Malfoy heir said, still trembling, pulling his legs up.

"No who?" Tom demanded.

"No my lord." Malfoy replied.

"Now that's a good boy." He gave the other a smile, more dazzling than any he had ever given anyone, but his eyes still held the hatred. "Are you prepared to serve me, Abraxas?" He held out the boy's wand

"I am, my lord." Malfoy took his wand, after which he got up from the cold floor en straightened his back.

"Next time, this will not be that easy, understood?" Tom asked.

"Yes My Lord. Please accept my apologies." Malfoy bowed his head just slightly.

"Apologies accepted." He patted Malfoy on the head, like he would with a pet. Then he turned to look at the others. "Is there anyone else who wants to challenge my authority?"

Silence reigned the common room. No one dared to look at him, afraid of what he would do. But they were safe, for now at least. He was still to angry with Malfoy, the boy's punishment was not yet over. Tom knew he was pretty vengeful, but he would pay Malfoy back for everything the boy had done, even the smallest of things, like letting his breakfast explode, or pushing his books of the table. Malfoy would pay.

The memory faded away, and everything returned to the dull grey. Tom looked at Harry, who was standing a couple of feet away. The boy looked at him with absolute horror. Perhaps showing that last part was not such a good idea. But there was no use in hiding who he was, not from Harry at least.

"We're nothing alike, you and I." Harry said softly. "You're a monster. You were a monster at eleven and you're a monster now."

"A monster? Because I paid Abraxas back for what he did to me?" He asked, without a hint of remorse. "It is not so different from what you are doing, you just hide behind you infinite hero-complex."

"How is it the same? You just hurt people, because you feel like it! Because it helps you to gain whatever it is you want! I do what I must in order to protect the people I love. We'll never be the same." Harry looked anything but happy. But the boy had to understand how things worked in Slytherin, rather sooner than later.

"If I had not done that, Abraxas would have made me into a slave for him. I would have been no better than a house-elf." Tom stated.

"A house-elf is way better than what you're now, Riddle." Harry hissed. "You don't understand what I'm going through, not at all!"

"Oh no?" He stepped closer to the boy, fixing his gaze upon those killing curse green eyes. "People are always looking at you, expecting the best. They watch you like a hawk watching its prey. You can not make one mistake, because they will be on you like vultures. The whispers behind your back are the worst, they follow you where ever you go. And all the while, you wish you are nothing more than an ordinary boy, because then you would be able to just live your life. You are just a child, bearing to much responsibilities, unable to slip up once, because of the dire consequences."

The look on Harry's face slowly changed. The anger was still there, but subdued now. Tom felt a mixture of feelings, understanding, hurt, loneliness.

"I know how it feels Harry." He said, softer now. "The only difference is that I used it to my advantage. I became the protégée they wanted, until I got what I wanted."

He stepped even closer yet, placing a hand on Harry's shoulder. He did not like to touch others, or to be touched by others, but with Harry it felt somehow natural, like he needed to do this. "They do not deserve people like you and I. You know why not? Because they left you to yourself, to give you a 'normal' childhood. They left you with muggles for years, while there was, and probably still is, a power underneath your skin, eager to come out. And when it does come out, strange things happen, things you could not possibly understand, because there was no one there to tell you what was going on. For years people labelled you a freak. You got bullied, because you were different, and there was nothing you could do about it. Even the ones that were responsible to take care of you, treated you different, feeling the strange sensation of your magic. And then one day an old man comes around, telling you that you are a wizard, made to do so much good in the world, destined for something greater."

Tom didn't notice his voice had gotten louder with each word he spoke, anger filling him. "For the first time in your life you are surrounded by people just like you, for the first time you feel at home. But even that feeling does not last. Soon you realize you are even different from those people, you are still a freak in this world as well. Because you are stronger, your magical potential is greater."

Harry was remarkably quiet. The boy just stared at him, a turmoil of emotions passing through those beautiful eyes. Tom did not stop, not even when he saw a tear in the corner of Harry's eye.

"You draw to much attention to yourself, people are able to pick you out of a crowd to easily. They drive you into a corner, where even your friends can not reach you. They do not understand how you are feeling, no one does. They drive you into solitude, there is no place you are save except for the dark recesses of your mind. Insanity is right behind the corner, but you do not want to reach it, out of hope that one day you would get the rest you want and deserve. But you know all to well that you well never find that peace, until you are either death or your 'enemies' are defeated."

His hand slipped from Harry's shoulder, for a moment he closed his eyes. "I know perfectly well how you feel. I might not be the boy who lived, but I got my fair share of attention, to much expectations. I chose to live my life differently, to live according to my own expectations."

The boy was trembling, he could hear Harry's heart pound even from where he was standing. Perhaps it was better if he left it at this, there was no use in breaking the golden boy into pieces.

"You could have chosen not to attract so much attentions." The boy whispered. "You had that choice, I did not."

"If it comes to powerful people, there is no choice, sooner or later they will find you. Lesser people are attracted to us like moths to a flame. Even if you weren't 'The boy who lived', you still would have been in the centre of attention. That is the fate of all people, whom are born with power. You can not outrun fate forever."

"But why did you use your powers for evil? You could have helped people." The boy was so naïve. But he would teach Harry how the world worked, one step at a time.

"Why would I help people, who did not help me? I do not see the use in 'being the better man', if they treat me like I am nothing. An eye for an eye. If they pester me, I will repay the favour." He said patiently. "If someone does not show respect for me and for my live, I will not show any respect for theirs. There is no good and evil, only what people want to see, and can not see."

"You've killed my parent's, that's evil!" Harry found his anger again, yelling hard now.

"Everyone is afraid of something Harry. I am afraid of dying, but yet they want to kill me. What I did was protect myself." He was pretty sure Harry would not understand this. "If one of your friends was about to die, and the only way to save them, was by killing someone else, would you?"

"Ofcourse I would!" Harry said.

"So killing someone to save another is good?" Tom asked, looking straight at the boy once more.

"I..." Harry looked back at him, sensing the trap. "There is a difference."

"Is there?" He asked. "So it is al right for you to kill someone, in order to save one of your friends, but it is evil if I kill someone to save myself? I do not see the difference, besides the obvious hero-complex involved in your situation."

"You killed my parents because you wanted to kill me! I was just an infant!" The boy was back to yelling.

"Oh." He smiled slightly. "Dumbledore did not tell you, now did he?"

"Tell me what." The Gryffindor crossed his arms.

"About the prophecy. Maybe you should ask him about that first, see how your mentor lies to you in order to use you in whatever way he wants to." This was the perfect way to break Harry away from the lord of the light. How more Harry trusted him, how more power he gained. "There was a reason my older self wanted to kill you. I would think twice about trying it again, but I am more sane then he is."

"What prophecy?" Doubt was settling in Harry's mind, Tom could feel it.

"Ask Dumbledore, I am sure he would love to enlighten you." He smiled. "When you know, we will continue this conversation. Maybe then you will see that were are not so different after all."

Harry looked at him a little while longer, before he disappeared, leaving him in the darkness of his prison once more.

But Tom knew he had achieved something today. With or without realising it, Harry was starting to trust him. They had a lot in common, even the boy could see that. And he was probably the only one that could understand Harry. There were not a lot of people out there with the same background, the same power. Sooner or later his little puppet would come back to talk to him. Tom had this strong feeling it would not take long.

* * *

_More then 3000 words! I'm so proud. I want to make my chapters longer, if I can._


	11. Chapter 11

_Thanks everyone for all the reviews, I hope you'll like the next chapter as well._

_Krysania: I'm gld you liked it! And yes there is much bitter wisdom, but that only works because Harry and Toma re so much alike._

_MaiWishes: I think it's an important part of who Tom really is. I don't think he would be so obsessed with bloodpurity if it wasn't for the purebloods in his dormitory._

_J.F.C.: Yes Tom finally managed that, but for every move Tom makes, Dumbledore is able to counter that move. _

* * *

"Harry, we need to talk to you." Hermoine walked towards her best friend, who was sitting at the Gryffindor table. Harry however did not look back. He was staring intently at the head table, at Dumbledore to be more precise.

She was worried about him, very worried. He looked sick. His natural tanned skin was getting paler by the day. And he was growing thinner. He barely ate anything, he barely slept and he ignored them most of the time. Hermoine and Ron had only seen him during classes and when he left the commonroom or the great hall. In between classes and at the evenings, he was nowhere to be found.

But that was not the part that worried Hermoine the most. Her best friend had had periods like this before, usually when something was very wrong. This time however there was something different. She had heard him, more then once, talking to himself, when he thought no one was listening. He spoke of Dumbledore and everything that was going on in the wizardingworld. Sometimes he even answered questions, nobody asked.

She had noticed it the first time at Grimmauldplace, the day he arrived. He had not been yelling at them, he had been yelling at something, or someone, else. At that time, she had dismissed it, blaming it on being locked up in a house with terrible muggle relatives and being left in the dark for so long. But it happened more often.

Ofcourse Hermoine needed to know what was going on. He was her best friend! But even now, when she and Ron spoke to him for the first time in days, Harry ignored him.

"Harry mate." Ron began. "We really need to talk."

"We know something is going on." Hermoine continued. "You know you can tell us everything."

Harry still ignored the both of them. He got to his feet and walked away, like they were nothing at all! She looked at his back, wondering what was going on, and what hey had done to deserve this treatment.

"What are we going to do now?" Ron asked her, looking at Harry as well.

"I don't know." She answered. "But we have to do something."

"I know, he looks like hell." The red-head stated.

"Oh really Ronald? I didn't notice that at all!" She scowled.

Then she looked back at Harry, who went straight for Dumbledore. But before her friend could reach their headmaster, the older man stood up en left.

"Professor! I need to to talk to you!"

"Mister Potter, keep your voice down!" Mcgonagall shook her head in disapproval. "If the headmaster wants to talk to you, he will call you to his office."

"Excuse me Professor, with all due respect, but I need to talk to him right now." Hermoine watched how Harry went passed the head of their house and went straight after Dumbledore.

"Come one Ron." She said, getting up as well. "This is our chance to figure out what is going on."

"But 'Moine'." He said, stuffing a waffle in his mouth.

"Get on your feet this instant Ronald Weasley, if you know what's good for you!" Talking firmly to Ron usually worked. Today was no different. The red-head got up and followed her.

Hermoine left the great hall, with Ron in her wake. It was not long before they found Harry and professor Dumbledore. Ofcourse Harry was hard to miss, seeing how he was still yelling at their headmaster.

"Look at me!" Harry screamed.

Hermoine tucked Ron behind a statue, it was better if no one saw them, especially Harry. Otherwise they would never figure out what was going on here. When she felt a surge of magic, a shiver ran down her spine. There was something cold in Harry's magic, something she didn't like at all.

* * *

It was hard to miss Harry's stares. He felt the green eyes on himself the entire time, but he did not once look back. Dumbledore knew he had to stay away from Harry, for the time being. The boy would be in more danger if he came to close.

If he came to close to Harry, Voldemort would be tempted to use the connection between him and the boy. That was something that could not happen.

He had already seen a glint of Voldemort in those green eyes, that day at the hearing. Dumbledore had seen the red in Harry's eyes and the shade next to the boy. It was like a shadow hanging over the young Gryffindor. He was not going to make it worse. The farther away he stayed from harry, the better for the both of them.

But Harry seemed persistent to talk to him. When the boy got up and walked over to him, he got up as well, practically fleeing from the great hall.

"Professor! I need to talk to you!" Yes yes, he already knew that much, but unfortunately for harry, that was not going to happen, not today. He was glad Minerva tried to stop the boy.

But still the boy followed him, he could hear the footsteps behind him. Harry called his name multiple times, but he did not react to it. Sooner or later the boy would give up, he was certain of it.

"Look at me!" Harry yelled, at the same moment a surge of magic went through the abandoned hallway.

Every hair at the back of his neck stood straight. He knew Harry's magic was stronger then it seemed, just like he knew that Harry's magical identification was pure light. This magic however, held a trace of darkness, something cold, that chilled you to the bone.

Dumbledore would have loved to say it was the influence of Voldemort on the boy, but he knew it was not true. Voldemort's magic was stronger and always present. The darkness in Harry's magic was more subdued, and sometimes even disappeared entirely.

For the first time he looked around, straight in the boy's eyes. There was no hint of Voldemort there, just the fury of a neglected boy.

"Harry." He said softly. For the first time in a long while he looked at his protégé completely. Minerva and Severus had already told him this, but now he saw it for himself: Harry looked terrible, like something was stealing his life-force away.

"Is it true?" The boy asked, straight to the point.

"Is what true my boy?" He could hardly answer a question if he did not know what this was about.

"Is there a prophecy? Is there a reason my parents died!" Harry had been calmer a minute ago, but the anger was flaring again. "Why did Voldemort come after me? Why not anyone else? I was just a child!"

He could not believe his ears. Harry knew about the prophecy? But who had told him? There were only a select few people who knew about this prophecy. Himself, Severus and Voldemort. Ofcourse Voldemort could had told the boy through the link, there was no other explanations. After all Severus would never have told Harry anything, without his explicit permission.

"I think we really do need to talk, my boy." He said. It was maybe not the wisest of idea's, but leaving the boy without the correct information, could end up even more disastrous than exposing himself to Voldemort. "Come."

* * *

Harry followed the headmaster. His anger was still present, but for now he could hide it. If he wanted to get anything out of Dumbledore he needed to remain cool and calm. Otherwise this conversation would go rapidly down hill.

He simply had to know if Riddle had been speaking the truth and if so, why Dumbledore had kept this from him all those years. A moment later they arrived at the headmasters office, the door closed behind him.

"Sit down Harry." De old man gestured towards a chair. "Do you want something to drink?" There was a moment of silence. "Ofcourse you don't."

Harry looked at his professor, after which he sat down on one of the chairs. His eyes never left the bright blue ones of Professor Dumbledore. The old wizard sat down on the chair on the other side of the desk. A sigh left the old man's lips. "I'm so sorry Harry. I could not tell you this before. You were such a sweet and innocent boy, I wanted to give you your youth."

"I don't really care what you wanted, professor. I'm just asking if it is true. Is there a prophecy?" He was still to angry, otherwise he would have reacted differently.

"I'm afraid it is, my boy." Dumbledore looked straight at him, with those piercing blue eyes, there was nothing but the truth there. "You and lord Voldemort are mentioned in a prophecy. You two are bound by fate. You can not truly live, until the other is death."

So what? He had to kill Voldemort? What about the diary version, Tom Riddle? Did he have to die to? If a memory could die that is. It would solve most of his problems. But on the other hand Riddle had given him more information, than Dumbledore. He might me an evil git, but at least the older boy was honest to him.

"Now Harry, please tell me from whom you got this information." The headmaster asked warily.

He looked at his professor. "First tell me more about this prophecy."

"Alright." Dumbledore told him the entire prophecy, which went like this:

_The one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord approaches ... _

_born to those who have thrice defied him, born as the seventh month dies ... _

_and the Dark Lord will mark him as his equal, but he will have power the Dark Lord knows not ... _

_and either must die at the hand of the other for neither can live while the other survives ... _

_the one with the power to vanquish the Dark Lord will be born as the seventh month dies ..._

It was al to clear to Harry what this meant. It was him, the boy that was born at the end of July, whom Voldemort marked as his equal. Apparently he was the only one who could defeat Voldemort. But for him it still wasn't clear if he had to kill, or destroy, Diary-Riddle as well. But that was no question he could asked Dumbledore about.

"Why didn't you tell me this before?" He asked, trying to stay as calm as possible.

"Because I did not want to burden you with this." The old man said.

"I had the right to know! I had more right to know than you!" He felt the anger rising again, this was no good. "This prophecy was about me and Voldemort, not about you! You should have told me the first day we met!"

"And what would you have done?" Dumbledore asked. "You knew nothing about the wizardingworld, about magic. You would not have understood. I did this for you."

"No you didn't." Harry got up straight away. "You're a selfish old fool, you don't have my best interest at heart, you never had. Otherwise you would have helped me." Harry regretted those words as soon as they left his lips, but that did not make him stop.

"Each and every time you left me to my own fate. I was eleven, without much knowledge of the wizardingworld or magic, and yet I defeated the greatest Dark lord of this century. The next year I fought a basilisk, and where were you? Scared off by the board and Lucius Malfoy! The year after that I met Sirius, nobody ever bothered to tell me he was my godfather, I had to figure it all out by myself! And then there was Pettigrew, a treacherous bastard, who betrayed my parents to Voldemort!" He caught his breath.

"You even left me alone last year." His voice was softer now. "He killed Cedric right before my eyes, and he was ready to kill me. But where were you?" He asked for the second time.

"I'm so sorry Harry." The old man looked older then he ever had.

"There was a deatheater right under your nose! You didn't even notice, because you were to busy protecting your own secrets!" He got to yelling once more. "You claim to protect my youth, my innocence, but I've lost that years ago! Because you weren't there for me! Because I, and my two best friends, had to do everything ourself! You could have told me! Then at least I would have know why it was always me! Why I always sank so deep into trouble!"

"Harry..." Dumbledore began.

He did not let the old man finish. "Shut up! For once I'm talking! For once somebody is going to listen to me! I'm not a child anymore! I can take care of myself! Like I've done the past several years! I could have had a real family, but you took that away from me. Why do I need to live with Uncle Vernon and Aunt Petunia anyway? The Weasley's would have loved to have me."

He looked down at his lap, his hands were trembling. He hadn't been this angry since he found out what Pettigrew did to his parents. The worst part of it all was that the anger was not going away. And yet he felt pain as well. Sadness swept over him, like sand in the desert.

He could have had a much better youth, he could have been happy and more normal, not like this. He didn't look at Dumbledore again. "Why did you leave me with the Dursley's?" he finally asked again. "If you knew they were so horrible to me, then why? And don't tell me anything about having a normal youth, you know that's not what I had."

"I left you there because the magic of your mother would protect you, only there. Until you come of age, your mother's love for you, will protect you, as long as you return there every summer." Dumbledore answered him, but with sadness in his voice.

His mother's love? That's what protected him al those years ago? That's what stopped Voldemort? His mother died for him, because of him. And Dumbledore never bothered to tell him that. He was so sick and tired of these games. Not for the last time he wished he was normal, a nobody, but that was not going to happen.

He stood up and walked towards the door.

"Harry, don't leave. We need to talk about this." Dumbledore sounded tired, but at this moment Harry couldn't care less.

"You had the chance to talk about it for five years, now I want to be left alone." He needed to process this information, for himself, on his own. Maybe later he would tell Ron and Hermoine, or Sirius. Yes Sirius sounded like a good idea. The man was like a father to him, he could tell Sirius everything.

He left the headmaster's office without looking back once. Dumbledore's broken frame was not what he wanted to see right now, he couldn't bare the guilt for breaking his old mentor.

He went straight for the astronomytower, maybe he could find some peace there.

* * *

Hermoine tucked Ron behind a statue, for the second time that day. Harry walked straight passed them, absorbed in his own thoughts. As soon as their best friend was out of view, Hermoine strolled into the headmaster's office, without knocking.

"Professor?" She looked at the old wizard, he looked a bit broken.

"Miss Granger, Mister Weasley. Is there something I can do for you?" It was remarkable how fast Dumbledore restored his posture.

"We overheard the conversation." She said, feeling an ounce of shame.

"Ah yes, I figured you did." He smiled lightly. "Maybe it's for the best if you talked to Miser Potter himself, instead of me."

"He won't talk to us anymore." She bit her lip. "He ignored us for the better part of the past week. There is something strange going one with him Professor."

"Yes, I've noticed that as well, Miss Granger." Dumbledore looked at the both of them, over his crescent glasses. "I believe he is being influenced by someone else, someone who is able to get into his mind."

"Voldemort." Hermoine whispered.

"Please don't say that name." Ron looked absolutely horrified.

"Oh grow up Ronald, it's just a name." She looked at the red-head, before quoting her own words from years ago. "Fear of a name, only increases fear of the thing itself."

"Very wise words, Miss Granger. But let's get back to the point now." She looked at their headmaster, while the older man got up en walked around his desk, towards them. "Harry needs his friends now more then ever. The both of you need to talk to him, find out whatever you can. If we lose Harry, we lose everything. He needs to be able to trust you, the both of you."

"We know that, professor, but it's really hard to get close to Harry. His locked himself away, speaking to no one except himself." She knew it sounded weird, she didn't even tell Ron, the red-head would have only freaked.

"To himself? What has he been saying?" Dumbledore Questioned warily.

"Yes to himself." She bit her lip once more. "He talked about some articles in the Daily prophet, concerning Voldemort's recent activity's. The disappearances and such. And about you, not much really, he said you hardly looked at him at all."

"This is worse then I feared." Dumbledore looked as worried as he sounded.

"What is Sir?" Ron had paled considerably.

"I fear that our young friend is under the influence of Voldemort himself. You see, Harry and Voldemort share a connection, through Harry's cursed scar. They are able to see in each others mind's, control each other if so they desire. Harry has neither the knowledge, nor the power to do such a thing. But Voldemort has. You need to break this connection."

Hermoine looked puzzled. "But how Professor. If Voldemort is inside his mind, what can we do about it?"

"Gain his trust again, Miss Granger, show him that he is not alone, that he has friends he can rely upon. He is stronger with the support of his friends." Dumbledore said seriously.

"We'll do anything to get Harry back." Ron said. "If you think this is going to work, then we better get started, right?"

"Right." Hermoine smiled. "Let's go Ronald."

They both left the headmaster's office. Now they just had to find Harry and end this. Getting their friend back was their utmost priority.

* * *

_I'm sorry no Tom this time, but it is important he stayed away!_


	12. Chapter 12

_Thanks again for all the reviews, there were a few questions, which I'm not going to answer, all of it will be explained in the story sooner or later. _

_Just enjoy the next chapter and be patient, I hope I will not disappoint you later on in the story!_

* * *

Harry ended up in the empty astronomy-tower, just like he wanted to. Pretty much like last time, he sat himself down on the window-ledge. A sigh escaped his lips. This day couldn't get any worse. Dumbledore betrayed him in a way he never would expected to be betrayed.

The old man had kept this from him for the past four years. He could understand why Dumbledore hadn't told him this in his first year. There was already so much information he had to process back then. That bit of information probably would have been to much. That was the only year he couldn't have dealt with it.

But why not in his second year? He had been so full of doubt about himself. Why did he look so much like Riddle? Why was he a parselmouth? Back then Dumbledore had simply told him Voldemort had transferred some of his own powers to him. He never got the why. Now he understood ofcourse.

Each and every year he discovered something new, and each and every year the headmaster decided not to tell him. The man had kept so much secrets, secrets that weren't his to keep.

Harry didn't know what to do anymore. Once again he felt lost and alone, like there was no one there to help him, to tell him what he should do. He knew he couldn't trust Riddle, but apparently neither could he trust Dumbledore. He was just a pawn for the both of them.

There was however one big difference between the both of them. With Riddle he knew were he stood. The older boy might be a real pain in the ass and as arrogant as can be, but at least Riddle was deathly honest with him, even though he didn't know what the Slytherin heir was up to.

Dumbledore was another thing entirely. He had trusted the old man from the beginning, because there was no one else. But he didn't know what the old man wanted, what he was planning and what else he might know. The things Dumbledore did tell him, could easily be a twisted version of reality, just to keep him happy and in his place.

He buried his head in his arms. His live was starting to collapse. There were bound to be more skeletons in the closet, he knew that much. Whenever he found something new out, something even more horrifying would follow.

He looked down at the lake. Some students were enjoying the warm rays of sunlight, while others would probably be in class by now. His friends as well. He had pushed them away the last couple of days, but there had been no other choice. He had needed to process the things Riddle told him, without them asking every five minutes what was wrong and if he was all right.

But it still wasn't fair of him to treat them that way. Once he explained, they would understand. First things first. Ron and Hermoine could wait a little bit longer, there were two things he wanted to do first. He had to write Sirius about this, see what his godfather had to say about it. But even before that, he needed to talk to Riddle. He had to find out how much the elder boy knew.

He took the diary from his pocket and opened it, not that it was necessary, but this was his way to let Riddle know he wanted to talk, and now if he could help it.

* * *

Patience. It was something Tom had in a great amount, but this was somewhat killing him. He hadn't talked to Harry in days, not that he particularly missed the boy, but it was pretty nerve-wrecking without knowing the outcome of his little scheme.

Ofcourse he had followed the conversation between the old fool and the Gryffindor, but that didn't mean he knew what Harry thought. Maybe the boy was repelled by the knowledge of their shared fate. Or perhaps Harry thought him a friend now.

Nevertheless Harry had given him somewhat more power. Feeding on the boy's emotions had been a great idea. But it was not enough to revive him completely. He might be able to get out of the darkness of his never-ending memories, but obtaining a body and getting his full power back was something entirely different.

If his little scheme had worked, like he hoped it would, then he could progress to the next step in his plan. But he didn't like it at all, there were to many if's and when's. There was to much that could go wrong. But there was nothing else he could do, not without his magic, or the power to move of his own.

All he could do now was wait, until harry decided to talk to him again. It was not that long after, when light crept into his darkness and he heard the familiar voice of the younger boy.

"Riddle."

"Harry." He answered, not giving away anything yet. Harry didn't need to know what he had heard.

"You were right, there was a prophecy." The golden boy continued. "Did you know what it was about?"

"Not completely." He replied honestly. He had only know about that part that Snape had told Voldemort all those years ago, not the entire prophecy.

"Well, it seems we have a destiny together." Harry didn't sound happy.

"And you only figured that one out just now?" He asked.

"Well, no...but..." The boy replied hesitant. "But it's one thing to know that a psycho is after you, because you destroyed him and not having a memory of it whatsoever, and a entire other thing to find out that you actually have to kill the other one to survive yourself."

"True enough, but you were going to kill me anyway, am I right?" He inquired.

"Not exactly. I'm no murderer Riddle. You might be able to kill others, but I'm sure as hell aren't." The boy seemed awfully calm, that bothered him a lot.

"I was not planning to kill you." _Yet_, he added in his mind. Harry was to valuable at the moment. And there might be a time he would decide not to kill Harry at all. There was a small chance that the Gryffindor Golden boy would join him. A very small chance, but it was present.

"Don't play games with me." Harry said, a hard bite to his tone. "I know exactly what you are and what you are capable of. Killing me is in your plan, somewhere."

"You do know I love playing games, do you not?" He smiled softly. "But no, you do not know me. You know my older version. The one that killed your parents and foolishly destroyed himself in the process. I am not like that man at all. If you give me the chance, I will prove it to you."

The boy became quiet. He felt the doubt. Harry just had to say yes, and then he would be one step closer. Tom thought Harry would close the diary and answer him at a later time, but that did not happen, the boy made a decision right there and then.

"If I agree to give you a chance, what will I get in return?"

"Is it not in your best interest to get to know me better?" He was not giving Harry anything, if there was no need to.

"Is it not in your best interest if I do?" Harry remarked.

"True enough." He said. "How about this then, you get the know me better, and I will not lie to you, in return you will be more open to me, about yourself, what ever that might be going on with you. I am not asking you to give me your soul. I just want to do something about this headache your emotions are giving to me."

The boy seemed to consider this for, before giving his answer. "Al right then. You can not lie to me, whatever I might ask."

"I will not tell lies." Tom said, not knowing what those words had done to Harry. "I, Tom Marvolo Riddle, promise you, Harry James Potter, that I will not lie to you in exchange for a chance to show you who I am and more information about your well-being."

"You're a bit formal, don't you think?" Harry said flatly.

"Just say 'I promise' like you always do, Golden boy." He rolled his eyes in his thoughts. The Gryffindor could be such a pain some times.

"I promise."

What happened next was something Tom did not anticipate. He was thrown out of the diary, with such force, he almost fell on the ground. Of course his body was not solid, like Harry's was, but he was able to walk around and to look wherever he pleased.

He looked up at the boy, who was sitting on the window-ledge. The boy was as white as a sheet with a shocked expression plastered to his face. "What just happened?"

"Apparently I have regained enough power to leave that horrible dark void." Tom said, a smile appeared upon his face.

"Apparently. Now get back into your stupid diary, you're freaking me out with that smile of yours." Harry shivered.

"Language Harry, that diary is a priced possession of mine. Treat it with a little bit of respect will you?" For the first time he looked at his diary, it looked half broken. The cover held a line, where it was folded multiple times, and the once black colour had faded, which was expected ofcourse, seeing how much time had passed. "What have you done to my diary?"

"Nothing." The boy hid the diary back under his cloak. "Do you know how hard it is to keep something like this upon you at all times?"

"Yes, as a matter of fact, I do." How could the boy treat his diary like that? It had been important during his time at Hogwarts. "I have kept that diary on me for six years." And Voldemort had probably kept it on him longer still. But then again he had been trapped in that diary in his sixth year.

"You said I had to take it with me wherever I went, so I did. Stop complaining already, it's just a stupid book." The boy rolled his eyes and slid off the ledge.

"I have warned you." He hissed. Harry ofcourse was right, it was only a stupid small book, but it still held some significance for him. But the anger, that drove him to hurting Harry, was not his own. He pulled to strings, he still held in his hands, invisible as they might be. The boy doubled over in pain, gasping for air.

"Just stop it, you bloody idiot!" He looked at the boy, who was still not giving in, not minding his language or anything else he told him. It was not so easy to get Harry to listen apparently. At such times one missed his deatheaters.

He let go of the strings, after which he looked down at Harry, the boy growled at him. More lovely emotions to feed his strength. "I did warn you."

"That doesn't mean you have to give me one hell of a headache, you git!" The boy was almost yelling at him now, but the anger faded quick enough.

"You gave me one as well." He stated, looking at those bright green eyes. "I at least have control over it, maybe you should try to get control over your emotions as well."

"Control? You just tortured me because I insulted a book!" Harry got up and walked passed him. He had no other choice but to follow the boy. As long as he was bound to the diary, he was bound to Harry. Wherever the boy went, he had to go to.

"Moreover Harry, most people say I have a charming smile." He stated.

"Yeah well, they don't know you like I do. When you smile to me like that, my first thought is that you might eat me alive." Harry looked deathly serious, if not for the beginning smile at the corner of his lips.

"I might be a psychopath, but even I will not eat a human." He shivered, the thought alone made him nauseated.

"Good to know, I'll think of something else next time you smile at me like that." And with that they were out of the astronomy-tower.

* * *

Hermoine grabbed Ron's arm. "Wait." She said.

"What is it?" The red-head asked. "We really need to catch up with Harry, we have to talk to him now 'Moine."

"Ron, don't you think Dumbledore is being a bit unfair?" She bit her lip. "Harry is our best friend, we can't betray his trust like this."

"What are you talking about? We're helping him!"

Apparently she saw something Ron could not. Harry had been absolutely right. Dumbledore had treated him unfair. Their best friend had had the right to know about this prophecy from the beginning, he had had the right to know about the details concerning his parents death, including the part Sirius and Pettigrew played in it.

"No we're not. Harry is capable of taking care of himself. We need to handle this with care." She said. "How would you react when you found out Harry was following you wherever you went, and watched your every move? We have tot ell him what Dumbledore asked of us."

"But he won't listen!" Ron replied.

"Yes he will. He is still our best friend. If we're going to help him, we need tot do it like we've always done it. Talk to him, ask him what is wrong, not by spying on him." It would be unfair to Harry. That Dumbledore even asked this of them was something she could not understand. She had said she would do it, to get the headmaster of their backs and hopefully Harry's.

"This is not like other times 'Moine." The red-head sounded truly worried.

"I know." Whatever was going on with Harry, it was effecting him entirely, in body and mind. "But we have to do it our own way. Harry still trusts us, we only need to trust him. Now lets go look for him and talk to him. He could probably use a friend or two right about now."

"You're right. Lets go!"

It took them a while to find Harry again, and by the time they did, Harry was already in conversation with the ghost they could not see.

Hermoine knew it was not fair to eavesdrop on this conversation, but what else could they do? Barge in and demand Harry to speak to them? The boy would just run away again.

She placed a hand in front of her mouth when her best friend doubled over in pain, hissing. What was going on here? Who or what was hurting Harry?

Harry yelled to the air. Or what had appeared to be air. A moment later the silhouette of young man appeared. What she could see of him was quit exquisite, she had to admit that. The boy was rather handsome, but then again she could not see all that much, a ghost was more present then this boy was. As fast as he appeared he disappeared again.

Who was he? She did not know that this was Tom Riddle, because neither she nor Ron had ever seen him. They had only heard of the diary, which was safely hidden in Harry's cloak.

Hermoine was not paying much attention to the conversation between her best friend and the shade. Her thoughts were racing, searching for answers. Who was he? How could this have happened? What did this boy want from Harry? How had they met? Were did the boy come from? There were so many unanswered questions.

For the first time that day it was Ron who tucked her behind a something, a curtain in this case. He clasped a hand around her mouth, so Harry, who was leaving the astronomy-tower, would not hear her surprised squeal.

When their friend had passed, Ron let her go. "This didn't go according to plan." The red-head seemed uncomfortable.

"Again Ronald, what gave it away?" She was irritated, not only because someone deprived them of the chance to talk to Harry, but also because she had no reasonable explanation for this.

"What are we going to do now?" Ron ignored her words.

"I don't know." She sighed.

"We could tell Dumbledore. He has to know it is not Voldemort who's influencing Harry." Her friend suggested.

"No." She shook her head. "We can't tell Dumbledore. We don't know what he might do with this information. The shade might be harmless, maybe he's only helping Harry."

"Harmless?" Ron asked, voice filled with disbelief. "Bloody hell Hermoine, that thing was hurting Harry! Torturing him even!"

"I know." She was desperate. "But we don't know what is going on here. We should still do, what we came here to do, talk to Harry. He'll be able to explain this to us."

"Al right, but if he doesn't, we're going back to Dumbledore. I don't want to lose my best mate." Ron agreed.

"No. until we know what is going on here, we will not tell Dumbledore about this." She wanted to give Harry a chance. She trusted Harry a whole lot more then she did their headmaster, especially after tonight. Who knew what more Dumbledore had kept from them, what he was planning.

"He could help us." Her friend said.

"Perhaps, but he could also do something far worse." Until they knew what was going on here, they should keep this to themselves, perhaps it was not as bad as t seemed. "For now we need to put our trust in Harry and his capability to take care of himself."


	13. Chapter 13

_Thanks for all your continued support! I'm going to write a special chapter when I've got 100 followers for this story. Any suggestions?_

* * *

"Could you please leave me alone for five minutes." Harry looked up at the ghostly shade that was Tom Riddle.

It was de middle of the night and they were all alone in the commonroom. Harry was attempting to write a letter to Sirius, but it was hard if someone was looking over your shoulder all the time. The Slytherin had the annoying habit of pointing out every mistake he made, in class or otherwise. It was getting on his nerves. Now even more so, because it was late and he was tired.

"And were would you have me go? I can not remove myself to far from either you or the diary." The elder replied.

"You could just sit over there, until I'm done." He gestured towards a couch a couple of metres away.

"Why should I?" The Slytherin asked, a smirk appeared on his face. "Writing secrets to your boyfriend."

Harry's cheeks turned red at the thought of that. "I don't have a boyfriend! I happen to like girls." He waved his hand. "That's besides the point! I'm trying to write to Sirius, it's hard when some creep is looking over your shoulder. I asked nicely, so please, move!"

Riddle stepped away from him reluctantly, after which he sat down on the couch, looking utterly bored. "Why write a letter to that mutt, when you can talk to me."

"Because you're an emotionless git, who doesn't understand me. Please bugger off." It was not his fault that Riddle was bored. It wasn't even his fault the idiot got trapped in that diary in the first place! Why did he have to go through all this mess?

He looked back at his almost empty parchment, concentrating on his letter once more.

_Dear Snuffles,_

_I don't know what to do or think anymore. Dumbledore kept so many secrets from me. About you, and Pettigrew, about my parents, and why they were killed. I don't know if I can still trust him. I'm actually not sure whom I can trust. _

_Ron and Hermoine are acting weird as well. Something is going one with them. It could be my own fault ofcourse, I haven't been a really good friend for them lately. _

_And then there is Umbridge. She works for Fudge, I don't trust her one bit. She's trying to take over Hogwarts, I believe._

_I need to talk to you. Could we meet somewhere?_

_Harry_

His letter wasn't as long as he had hoped it would be, but the message was clear, he really wanted and needed to talk. "I'm going to the Owlery." He said to Riddle, even though the Slytherin had no choice but to follow.

"This late at night? You will be caught, brave little Gryffindor." Riddle smirked.

"No I won't." He got up from his chair and hid the letter in his robe. "I'll be right back."

He left for the boy's dormitory to get his invisibilitycloak. Perhaps it was not that smart to let the future Lord Voldemort know he had this, but otherwise he would be caught. He would do anything to prove the Slytherin Heir wrong.

The other boys were al sleeping, Ron snoring the loudest of them all. He opened his trunk, to get his cloak out.

"What is that?" A voice whispered in his ear.

He almost jumped ten feet in the air. His heartbeat increased. "Riddle!" He hissed, pulling the cloak closer to his chest. "Could you not sneak up on me, when I'm trying to be quiet?"

"I did not sneak up on you. You knew I would follow, that I did not have any other choice." The elder replied. "Now tell me, what is that."

"It's still...never mind." Arguing with Riddle was a waste of breath and time, the other would not see what he meant, and would presume he was always right, the arrogant git. "It's called an invisibilitycloak, even you've heard of it. Now shut up."

Riddle was quiet immediately, due to their agreement ofcourse. They might be asleep, he was still in a room full of other people.

They left the boy dormitory again. As soon as they were downstairs again, he cloaked himself, ready to go outside, towards the owlery.

"It does not work very well, now does it?" Riddle Asked.

"And why is that?" He looked at the elder boy, who was standing right behind him.

"Because I can still see you."

"What?" He stepped towards a mirror and looked at himself. Well, there was not much to look at, he couldn't even see his own feet. The cloak worked perfectly. Then he looked back at the Slytherin heir, who was looking straight at him. Someone, who could not see him, would not be able to look directly at him. There was something seriously wrong.

"I can't see myself." Harry said.

"But I can see you." Riddle replied, just as puzzled as he was. "Perhaps it is our bond. You are after all the only one that can see me."

"Yes, but that's because you somehow connected me to your bloody diary!" And Riddle was ofcourse connected to his own diary.

"Language Harry." Riddle drawled. "You are bound to my diary, because you made those promises to me."

"I can say whatever I want, Riddle." Harry replied, irritatingly.

"We have already been through this Harry. You mind you're languages and I do not have to hurt you." The Slytherin Heir said.

"Git." He mumbled at that, before leaving the commonroom. Riddle might be able to see him, but he was pretty sure that no one else could. Besides he just needed to go to the owlery and back. It was not that big of a deal, he had done it a million times.

He was careful enough not to make any noise while walking. The Slytherin walked beside him, not bothered by the need to be silent or unseen. Harry noticed only then how gracious Riddle was. The elder was really like some prince, walking amongst lesser people. His steps were not to big, neither to small, his back was always straight and his hand were folded behind it. And The Slytherin heir always held his head high.

He didn't notice that he was staring, until he felt Riddle's eyes upon him. "What is de matter, Harry?"

"Nothing." He said, too fast, forgetting for a moment he was sneaking through Hogwarts.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes I'm." He was not going to tell Riddle he was somewhat jealous of his confidence. He had no such thing. He still felt uncomfortable when people looked at him, even though he should be accustomed to it by now. For the past four years he had been in the centre of attention pretty much all the time.

"You seem uncomfortable." Riddle stated.

"Shut it." Harry replied, irritated again.

They didn't come across anyone on their way to the owlery, for which Harry was very thankful. He might have panicked if they came across anyone, even though he had his invisibilitycloak. The fact that Riddle could see him, still made him anxious, despite it was probably due to their link.

They entered the owlery. Harry took his letter and gave it to Hedwig. The snow-white owl wasn't all to happy with him waking her from her slumber, but she left nonetheless. He was ready to leave again himself, when he heard voices.

"I'm sure they'll keep an eye on Harry, Minerva." Dumbledore entered the owlery, at the exact some moment he hid behind a big box. He wasn't entirely sure his cloak worked with the headmaster. After all the man had known he was there in Hagrid's hut in his second year.

"I am certain of that, but Albus, there is something seriously wrong with him. He is distracted in class, he talks a lot to himself. I am worried." McGonagoll entered behind Dumbledore.

"Voldemort is influencing him, there is no other explanation. I had hoped he would not be tempted with my out of the picture." The headmaster replied.

They were talking about him! But he was not under the influence of Voldemort. Not his snake-like older-self anyway. And Riddle wasn't influencing him, not really. He still did whatever he wanted and his thoughts were his own. The only thing Riddle was influencing was his sleep and his concentration, but that was something that was bound to happen, when someone was talking to you all day long.

Slowly and carefully he looked up, just in time to see Dumbledore step right through the ghostly image of Tom Riddle. The headmaster stopped immediately, his brilliant blue eyes darted around.

Harry looked at the scene that was playing out right in front of him. Riddle was walking around Dumbledore, like a predator stalking his prey. Those cold dark eyes were filled with hatred, pure hatred, there was no place for anything else. And yet it did not show in the Slytherin's posture. The older boy remained calm and as gracious as a few moment ago.

"Albus?" McGonagoll asked worried.

It took Harry out of his trance as well. He looked back at the head of his house, her eyes followed the blue once of their headmaster, but she did not see anything, judging by the look in her eyes.

"I'm sorry, Minerva." Dumbledore smiled slightly, after which he attached his own letter to an owl and turned around. This time Riddle stepped out of his path. Soon enough both professors were gone again.

Harry let go of the breath, he didn't know he was holding in. He looked at Riddle. "Are you crazy? They almost discovered us."

"No they did not." The Slytherin heir simply replied.

"He knew you were there, you stupid idiot!" The anger was obvious in his voice now.

"Calm down Harry, they might still hear you." Riddle walked towards the entrance. "We do not want that, now do we?"

He breathed in and out a few times, to calm himself again. Then he got up from his hiding-place and went after his companion. "Could you explain to me, why you did what you just did?"

"You will have to be more specific Harry." The Slytherin heir descended the stair, giving Harry no choice but to follow.

"That thing with Dumbledore just now." Harry whispered furiously. "You looked ready to kill him."

"But I can not, now can I?" Riddle turned around suddenly, looking straight at him once more. For a second Harry could see the desperation in those dark eyes, a moment later it was gone, but he could still feel in, inside of him.

"Thank Merlin for that." He muttered, walking passed the elder. There would be chaos if Riddle murdered the headmaster. He might not trust Dumbledore right now, but that didn't mean he wanted the headmaster death. Besides he had other things to worry about. Like who was watching him and what the headmaster was up to.

The trip back to the Gryffindor tower was filled with silence.

* * *

_Dear Harry,_

_Hogsmead meeting is coming up. Meet me there._

_Snuffles._

Harry held the little note tightly in his hands, while he was waiting at the shrieking shack. He didn't know why he came here. It was not like they had arranged their meeting to be here, but it was the only link he had to the marauders and therefore Sirius.

He had dumped Ron and Hermoine once more, at the three broomsticks this time. They had been reluctant to let him go, but he had told them he needed to talk to Sirius alone. As the good friends they were, they understood and let him go on his own. Not counting Riddle.

He had tried to be less distant towards his two best friends, but it was hard. His own thoughts had kept him busy most of the time. It was hard to concentrate on their words and thinking Dumbledore's words through at the same time. He knew it wasn't fair, but this was not something he was ready to talk about just yet, not with them anyway.

There used to be a time when he could tell his friends everything, but that time seemed to have passed. They tried, ofcourse. Hermoine was still her overprotective and motherly self, sticking her nose in everything. He didn't really mind, but you would expect a smart girl like her to take a hint. Ron wasn't as subtle as Hermoine was, the red-head flat out told him that there was something wrong with him and that he really should talk to someone, preferably the both of them.

_Soon_, he told himself. When he had talked to Sirius about this, then he would talk with his two best friends, without Riddle if he could help it.

He looked down when he fell something wet on his fingers. A black dog was sitting next to him, licking his hand. Sirius might be a dog, but it was still weird that a grown man was licking his hand. Still he smiled, patting the dog on his head.

The black dog got up and ran of. Harry followed. They left Hogsmead and the shrieking shack behind them, only to end up on a green hill, out of sight of the small village. There Sirius changed back to his human form.

"Harry." The black haired man smiled at him, before pulling him in a hug. "Are you alright?"

"I'm okay." He said, closing his eyes for a moment, letting the warm touch of his godfather warm his heart. The man was like a father to him, and that was exactly what he needed now.

Sirius sat himself down in the grass, gesturing for him to do the same. "Now tell me, what exactly is bothering you."

Harry sighed. "Dumbledore lied to me."

"Yes, you have said that in your letter. About what has he been lying to you." His godfather asked, without a sounds of prejudices in his voice.

"There is this prophecy, about me and Voldemort." Harry said. "It says that I will have to kill Voldemort, or be killed by him. We are bound to eachother, with our lives."

"He kept that from you?" Sirius wondered.

"Yes. Did you know this?" A horrible feeling was settling inside his stomach.

"No, I did not." His godfather sounded enraged now. "He has know this for all these years and didn't even decide to tell it to the order? He should at least told it to you. What was Dumbledore thinking?"

Harry had never seen Sirius so angry. The horrible feeling was gone in an instant. No one but Dumbledore had known. Apparently Sirius was not to happy about that either.

"So it's not wrong that I yelled at him?" He asked carefully.

"Ofcourse not Harry! This involves your live. You had the right to know from the beginning." His godfather placed a hand upon his shoulder. "Listen to me Harry, I know that what Dumbledore did was wrong. He has his own agenda, something with which I'm not happy, especially when it involves you, but he probably had a good reason."

"He said it was to protect me, to give me my childhood." Harry said, a bitter tone in his voice. "But I've lost that the day Voldemort killed my parents, and Dumbeldore decided to leave me at the Dursley's."

He looked around, Riddle was sitting in the grass a couple of feet away, apparently not interested in their conversation. He was grateful for that, this was something he wanted to keep between him and Sirius.

"I know that Harry, and I'm so sorry. I should have been there for you. I should have protected you and cared for you." Sirius said guiltily.

"This is not about you Sirius." He replied softly. "I don't blame you. You got framed for something you didn't do. It's Dumbledore I blame."

"It's not his fault either." His godfather said.

"Yes it is." Anger rose again. "He should have know you wouldn't betray my parents. He should have looked into it. He could have found it out, being as smart and powerful as he his. He could have placed me somewhere else, instead of the stupid muggle relatives of mine! He could have chosen to tell me the truth from the beginning! He could have helped me in my first year, help me to stop Voldemort! He could have been there to destroy the basilisk! He could have even stopped Pettigrew, if only he was humble enough to do it, and not leave everything up to his most cherished pawn!"

Harry didn't realise how much he sounded like Riddle now, a little bit less graceful, but with ever ounce of hatred and disdain as the Slytherin Heir had shown Dumbledore a couple of days ago.

"Harry calm down." Sirius grabbed his wrist. "I know he could have done a whole lot more, but he didn't. I'm not going to defend him, because I agree with you. Everyone claims your just a child, but still they trust you to fight alone. You're not a pawn Harry, don't let anyone tell you otherwise."

He looked straight at his godfather, who pulled him closer for a second time. For a moment he lay immobile in the older man's arms, before he grabbed the man's shirt and closed his eyes. "Thank you." He whispered. At last there was someone who understood him.

"We'll figure this out, you and me." Sirius said, letting him go again. "At Christmas you'll come to me. And I'll make sure you can come live with me in the summer as well. I'm going to take care of you, like I should have for the past fourteen years. I'll figure something out."

That meant he was going to live with Sirius and that he never had to go back to the Dursley's! Relieved filled him and washed the anger away. "I would love that!"

Sirius smiled at him. "Now, about your friends, don't worry about them. They're good friends, they will come around and support you, like they've always done."

"I know." Harry said. "They're just worried. But I just can't talk to them now. It will change."

"Trust me, it will. It's just like James, Remus and I when we were young." His godfather's smiled saddened. "When something happened at home, they would be worried as well, but talking about such things is not easy. They supported me until I got over it."

"What was your family like." Harry could not help but to be curious. He had heard a lot about their schooldays, Remus had told him a few things, but he knew nothing about Sirius's life at home, besides the fact that the other had ran away at sixteen to live with his father.

"Like any pureblood family." Sirius said bitterly. "Bloodpurity was all that counted. My parent were furious when they heard I was sorted into Gryffindor. And when they heard I became friends with your father, a Potter, they almost exploded with anger."

"I guess they never forgave you." Harry looked back at Hogsmead, which they could see at the other side of the hill.

"Not really, I was no longer there favorite son. Not that I really cared, but it was difficult to hear them talk so proudly about my little brother."

"You have a brother?" Harry asked. He didn't knew that. He had always thought Sirius had been an only child. "What happened to him?"

"He died." His godfather replied, without much emotions in his voice.

"Didn't you li..." Harry stared at the little village. Smoke rose from one of the roofs. He could hear people screaming. A moment later his was back on his two feet and took out his wand.

"Go back to Hogwarts Harry." Sirius commanded, mimicking his actions.

"But Ron and Hermoine are down there!" he would not leave them, not in the middle of a Deatheater attack.

"Harry watch out!" Riddle's voice, cut through him like a knife. He looked around, just in time to see a deatheater fire a killingcurse at him.

* * *

_I'm not completely happy with this chapter, but I had a hard time writing it, so I guess it's okay. My longest chapter yet!_


	14. Chapter 14

_Sorry it took me so long to update, but I'm in a bit of a writers block. I know where I want to go, but I just can't write it. So please forgive me if the chapters is not what it is supposed to be. I think it's okay, perhaps I would have written it better at another time, but ...well._

_And thanks again for the reviews, I'm not going to spoil the chapter, so if you want to know who lives and who dies, skip this part and start reading!_

* * *

"Harry watch out!" Harry looked around. He could see the green colour of the curse. This would be his final moment. He should duck, he knew that, but he just didn't. He would not be killed by Voldemort after all. Destiny was something strange.

A strange cold feeling went through him. It reminded him of the darkness inside Riddle's dream. The solitude, pain and hatred. But their was also an other feeling: Fear. It crept to the edges of his mind, filling him.

A moment later he lay on top of someone. The green flash missed him by an inch. His first reaction was to fire a spell back. The deatheater fell in the grass, paralysed. Then he looked at his saviour. Sirius.

His eyes found Riddle only a second later. The older boy, stood a few feet away, dusting of the invisible dirt on his non-existent robe. "Did you just try to save me?" The question was meant for Riddle.

"I think I just did." Sirius said, with half a smile, helping him up.

Harry looked passed Sirius, at the Slytherin heir, who did not respond. He just looked away. This was ridiculous, why would Riddle of all people try to save him? It was not like they cared for one another. It was possible that the older boy would go back into the diary, if he died. Then Riddle would have to start all over again. But the older boy was already walking around, the other obviously didn't need his emotion to survive anymore.

"Thanks." He said to Sirius, smiling at his godfather now. The man was looking from him to the point where he had been staring, a.k.a. The spot where Riddle stood. It was safe to say that still no one could see Riddle.

Harry decided to ignore the questioning look his godfather gave him. Instead he walked over to the man that had attacked them. He furrowed his brow. "This is no deatheater."

Riddle stopped next to him. "No, he isn't."

Sirius crouched next to the paralysed body. "I know him." The man said. "He works at the ministry, he was there the day of my hearing."

"You remember someone from fourteen years ago?" Harry was amazed. People could change a lot in fourteen years. This man was still young, younger then Sirius was at least. Half thirties perhaps.

"I remember almost every face in that room." His godfather said softly. "I was condemned before the trial even started."

Harry looked at the man again. If this man was no deatheater and worked for the ministry, then why did he attack him.

"He is under the imperius curse." Riddle stated.

He looked up at the Slytherin heir. The imperius curse? That was a possibility. It would explain why the man had attacked him, and why they were not attacked by deatheaters. No one believed Voldemort was back, so there would be no reason for the Dark lord to reveal himself and his followers so suddenly.

You could reason that it was the same as the attack from last year, during the Quidditch world cup, but that was disorganized and and messy, and at an open event, far away from any other magical place, with no significance whatsoever. This was Hogsmead, close the Hogwarts! And it had been planned. It was no coincidence that the attack was on the same day as the Hogmeads-weekend. Voldemort knew there would be students present, possibly him even.

This meant there was a traitor in Hogwarts, someone who reported back to Voldemort. The first person that came to mind was Severus Snape, their potionsprofessor. He would have to figure this out.

He looked away from the paralysed man, when he heard screaming. The town! They were still under attack! He turned around an ran down the hill.

"Harry! Harry stop!" Sirius screamed after him. But there was no way in hell he was going to stop. His friends were in danger.

He felt a strange pull somewhere in the back of his mind, but he ignored it, knowing all to well it was Riddle, who was getting to far away from him. He held the diary, so the Slytherin had no choice but to follow him.

Chaos reigned in the little village down hill. Students and shopowners were randomly attack by witches and wizards. None of the attackers wore a deatheater mask, which probably meant that none of them were actual deatheaters, just people under the influence of one.

Only a few students were fighting, the shopowers, simply closed their shops as fast as they could. "Don't hit them with any lasting spells!" He yelled towards the fighting students.

"Harry!" A familiar female voice called out.

He looked back, both Hermoine and Ron were there. There was no time for pleasantries, they needed to end this, before any more people got hurt.

"Harry, I do not really care for your godfather, but you do realise he is a wanted murderer, walking in a street full of people?" Riddle said to him, before he could say anything to his friends.

His eyes left the both of them and turned towards Sirius, who paralysed yet another wizard under the power of the imperiuscurse.

This was a disaster. Sirius would be caught and still no one would believe Voldemort was back. He ran towards hid godfather and started to fight with him. There was no use in sending Sirius away. The man was fighting with them, to save the students and the inhabitants of Hogsmead, perhaps this would change some opinions about Sirius.

"Hermoine! Get the students out of here!" He yelled, while deflecting a curse. He flicked his wand and another witch went down.

"Be careful!" The bushy-haired girl yelled back, before stepping away from the fight, with Ron in her wake.

They just needed to hold these people of long enough for the students to get out and perhaps a few teachers to arrive.

"Impedimenta!" The spell hit a particular big guy right in the chest. Harry ducked a curse, before, stepping back into a narrow alley. "There to many of them." He said, catching his breath again.

"There hurting neither you or the mutt." Riddle said, sanding right outside the alley,. The spells just went straight through him. "They are waiting for something Harry, staying here is a bad idea."

Before he could answer Sirius stepped in right besides him. The older man caught his breath as well. "It's been a long time that I fought so hard."

Harry saw his godfather smiling and he smiled back. This was something he understood. The kick you got from fighting. Adrenaline just rushed through your whole body, each spell was another dose of it. During a fight, such as this one, he could completely forget his worries and feelings, and just let himself drift away in the power. Sirius was the same.

"Ready for another go, Harry?" The older man asked.

"Bring it on!" He answered, grinning now.

"Do not go." The Slytherin heir stepped in front of him, but he ignored it and stepped straight through the image of the older boy. There might be something wrong, but there was nothing he could do about it. What did Riddle expect? That he would simply turn away from the fight and listen to the damn egocentric bastard? He had to protect his friends, no matter what the cost was.

When he stepped into the street however, it was abandoned. All the students were gone, and the inhabitants. Even their attackers, except those who were paralysed, were gone. Silence reigned over the little village.

"Where is everyone?" He asked Sirius bewildered.

"I don't know. Stay behind me." His godfather raised his wand again.

A chill went down his spine. Riddle was right, there was something weird going on. Mist slowly covered the streets of Hogsmead. The bodies disappeared from sight, one by one. Harry couldn't even see his own feet any more. The mist got thicker and thicker, until he couldn't see anything any more.

"Sirius?" He called. No one answered. "Sirius!"

He stumbled forward looking for something or someone to hold on to. His hands searched to nothingness before him.

"Harry?"

"Seamus?" He asked. The mist somewhat cleared, he could see his classmate, pale and scared. Most people panicked in these kind of situations, he didn't. Somehow he always became calmer when he was in trouble.

"What's going on?" His roommate asked.

"I don't know, but we'll be fine." He tried to soothe Seamus.

Before he could get to Seamus however, a man in a mask appeared behind the boy. A long dark wand was pressed against the neck of the Gryffindor. Harry recognised the blond hair that fell from the black hood.

"Malfoy." He sneered. "Let him go."

"Or what, Potter?" The mask disappeared. A familiar pair of cold blue eyes looked at him mockingly. "Are you going to tell everyone I'm a deatheater and the Dark lord has returned? No one believes you."

Harry clenched he fists. "Let him go!" He said again, not wanting to admit how right the blond was. He just wanted his friend back.

"I'm sorry Potter, I'm afraid I will have to decline your request. Our orders were very clear. Kill everyone in sight, except the boy." Malfoy said. "I believe your dearest Godfather is death to."

"Harry, get out of here." Riddle insisted. "They are going to kill you otherwise."

"No they won't." Riddle might be a coward, but he sure wasn't. He was a Gryffindor. The day he would leave his friends to their own faith, was the day he no longer wanted to live.

"They won't?" Lucius asked. "Do you mean, I won't? Oh but I will... Avada Kedavra!"

The green flash blinded Harry's eyes for a second. When he looked up again, he saw Seamus, lying on the cold hard stones, eyes wide open, fear still lingered within them. At first shock filled him. One of his friends was death. They might not have been the best of friends, certainly not now, because of how Seamus had treated him, but they had been friends nonetheless.

Than the pain and the anger came. It flooded him. It washed away everything else. His green eyes became hard and filled with tears. "You're going to pay for this, Malfoy." He whispered, a cold tone to his voice.

"Harry no!" The Slytherin heir tried to stop him again, but he didn't stop. He charged forward, wand ready. But before he could even throw a spell at his opponent, the blond was gone. A moment later he was hit by a spell. He landed hard against a brick wall, before losing consciousness.

* * *

Harry was a great fighter, Tom had to admit that much. But he was reckless and uncoordinated. Tom just knew this was going to go wrong. Not just that, he could feel the presence of his older self.

Very soon this fight would turn around, and Harry would have no where to run. But there was nothing he could do about it. The idiotic brave Gryffindor didn't listen, when he told him not to go back out there.

Then the mist came, the mutt vanished and the other Gryffindor and Malfoy appeared. He wasn't following the conversation between Harry and Lucius Malfoy, he was looking at the blond. The man had the same build as Abraxas, only not the same grace and the same fine lines in his face.

The same arrogance was there though, Malfoys tend to feel better then anyone around them, a habit that apparently died hard. His loathing for Abraxas came back in his full glory when he saw that smirk on Lucius his face. The first thing he would do when he got his body back, was search for Abraxas, if the man was still alive after fifty years. He had to play with his favourite toy, now didn't he?

An outburst of feelings shook him from his own thoughts, back into the real world. "Harry no!" He yelled, when he saw how the stupid boy attacked the Malfoy heir. How dumb could you get? It was obviously a trick. The deatheaters might not have been here for Harry specifically, but they were not that stupid to leave him unharmed, when they could damage the boy's heart and mind.

Tom almost got sucked back in the diary, when Harry lost consciousness, he had to use a lot of strength just to stay there in that same spot, let alone move to see how the boy was doing. He cursed the stupidity of the Gryffindor golden boy, he cursed the Malfoy heir for attacking the boy in the back, and he cursed himself, because he had no power what so ever. That had to change, and fast!

The only thing that puzzled him now was the fact that Malfoy left the golden boy on his own. If he were the Malfoy heir, he would have brought the boy back to...well, himself. Even Tom knew how valuable a price Harry was. The only one that could stop the Dark lord.

The puzzle was solved pretty quickly, when he came face to face with his future self. Voldemort couldn't see him, but he could see the man. Snake-like face, red eyes, a white skin, longe bony fingers and no hair what so ever. Harry had been right about one thing, his older self was hideous. But there was also power. It practically vibrated of the snake-like man.

"Harry Harry Harry." The man hissed. "You will never change."

Tom would have gotten closer, if he had the chance, but just staying out of the diary claimed all of his current power. He hated it. The only thing he wanted to do now was study himself from up close, see what kind of man he had become. A monster, that was for sure, but the power...it would have drawn him in like a moth to a flame, if it wasn't for his connection to the diary.

Fascinating.

Tom did not delude himself. His older self was more powerful, magically. But he had his charms, his wittiness and above all people he could manipulate instead of using fear to let them do things. In a game of chess, he was sure he could win. Not that he was planning on fighting his older self directly.

"One day I will kill you, Harry." The snake-like man whispered. The long slender fingers caressed the boy's face. "But not today. I need you to suffer a little bit more. You will see your friends die, one by one."

Tom watched his older self, who stepped away from the boy and vanished back into the mist, before anyone would see him here, before rescue arrived.

* * *

Sirius looked at Harry. His godson had been unconscious for several hours now. It was the middle of the night, but he refused to leave the boy's bed. Even when Dumbledore told him students would see him. He knew perfectly well he was still a convicted murderer, but his only family was more important to him, then he own petty life.

Ron and Hermoine had left an hour ago, to get some sleep. Both of them had a really long and hard day, whole of Hogwarts had suffered a blow. A few students would never return home, friends were lost and grieve had set in.

This was just like all those years ago, when Voldemort had first risen to power. People were dying, and there was next to nothing they could do about it. The worst thing was that they did not even have the support of the ministry. Even after this, Fudge still did not believe Voldemort was back. A random attack, like the year before at the Quidditch world cup. That man was seriously mental.

"Sirius?" A soft voice asked.

He looked at his godson again, a sad smile appeared on his face. "Hey harry, how are you feeling?"

"Horrible. What happened to you?" The boy looked confused, and hurt. "One moment you were there and the next, you were gone. And Lucius...he told me you were death."

At that moment Sirius realised that Harry was still a young boy. He might not be like any other child, be he was still vulnerable. The boy was not James, he needed to remember that.

"Never listen to Lucius, Harry, never. That man is a snake, he would do anything to weaken his opponents."

"But what happened to you?" The boy asked again.

"When the mist came, I lost you. I heard you yelling my name, but I could not answer." A lump got stuck in his throat. "There were two deatheaters. By the time I got back to you, you were already unconscious and..."

He could not tell Harry straight in his face that one of his friends was death. Perhaps the boy didn't know yet, if so, he had to tell it carefully.

"And Seamus...?" Harry asked, not looking at him now.

"I'm sorry Harry, he's death." Well, there was no need to hide it now. "I should have been there, I should have protected you."

"It's not your fault, Sirius." For all that had happened,Harry still sounded strong, perhaps even stronger then before. "It's mine...You will have to teach me."

"Teach you?" He asked.

"Yes. I have to became stronger, better, if I want to protect my friends and family." The boy looked up at him again. "Teach me how to fight like you and my father."

"There is nothing I would rather do." He said, placing a hand upon Harry's shoulder. "Dumbledore is not going to like it that I'm staying here, but here is where I am needed, not in that dreadful house."

"I don't care about Dumbledore, I need to do this, and I need you." Harry answered.

"I will stay in the room of requirements. We can go out during classes, or train in there." Sirius said, working everything out in his head. "If I understand correctly Umbridge is not teaching you much, now is she?"

"No she isn't, why?" Harry looked puzzled.

"I will be your new defence against the dark arts teacher." This was something he could do. He would teach his godson how to fight, new spells, so that he could protect himself and his friends, when he needed to. And the time would come, when his friends needed protection, sooner than anyone would believe.


	15. Chapter 15

Next chapter. I needed to do some explaining, about lucius and Voldemort etc. I made a mistake in the last chapter and someone was so kind to point it out. And about the death-dead thing, I know, I'll change it later^^ Stupid mistake anyway^^ Enjoy!

* * *

"Lucius." The Dark Lord said, with a cold soft voice.

"My Lord?" Lucius stepped forwards, looking the Dark Lord straight in the eye, but not for long. A moment later he cast his eyes down.

"What were my orders?" The snake-like man asked.

"Distract the people, find Potter and bring him a step closer to breaking." The Malfoy heir said softly.

"Not my exact words, but they will have to do." The Dark Lord rose from his seat. He stepped towards Lucius and circled around him. "Now tell me, why are there five students dead? Among them two purebloods."

"I..." The Malfoy heir searched for the right words to explain this. "Some of the deatheaters got out of control, My Lord."

"Did I not hear you say to the boy that my orders were to kill everyone in sight?" Voldemort asked, with a soft hiss in his voice.

"Yes My lord, but I was only trying to break him, like you have told me to." A shiver ran down Lucius his spine. This was not going to end well.

"What did you hope to achieve with telling him that we will murder everyone, who we'll come across?" The Dark Lord asked patiently.

"I wanted to make him more vulnerable My lord." Lucius tried to remain composed and succeeded for the better part. "I thought that when Potter saw in what kind of danger his friends were all the time, he would be less careful, thus making him a easier prey for you my Lord."

The Dark Lord stopped in front of him, looking straight into Lucius his cold blue eyes. "You thought wrong! The boy is not that easy to manipulate." Despite the anger in his voice, it still remained soft, like a whisper. "He will look for a way to protect his friends now, he will not break."

Voldemort turned around and walked back to his chair, on which he sat down. "It was rather convenient for your little scheme that some others were killing the students, now was it not?"

"I saw what they had done and decided to use it to my advantage." Lucius answered.

"Ofcourse you did." The Dark Lord was not surprised. Of all the purebloods, that had gathered around him, the only two family's worth mentioning, were the Malfoys and the Blacks. They were clever, resourceful and as slippery as a snake was. They would do anything to get what they wanted. The end justifies the means.

"We are friends, are we not Lucius?" He asked. They were not, not in his eyes at least, but letting someone believe that a friendship existed between them, made everything so much easier. Although he suspected that Lucius didn't believe one word of it.

"Ofcourse we are, My Lord." The blond said, full of conviction. Liar.

"Then bring me the ones that ignored my orders." The Dark Lord said. "You shall watch when I give them their punishment."

"Yes My Lord." Lucius bowed and left the room. He knew all to well what would happen if he did not do this. This was a light punishment, for him at least. He got lucky.

* * *

Tom didn't like this. Harry was going to learn even more light magic from his Godfather. He needed Harry to become at least a little bit darker, so that the boy would except horcruxes and help him with it. Harry had to learn dark magic, in order for his plan to work.

"Harry, we need to talk." He said, while he walked next to the boy, back to the Gryffindor commonroom.

"If this is about me ignoring you during the battle, please save your breath, I'm not going to change, especially not for you." The Gryffindor didn't even look at him.

"This is not about that." Even though they would discuss that later on. That hero-complex was going to get the boy killed. But first things first. "I want to teach you as well."

"Why? I'll never become dark." The boy answered, not thinking it through.

"For once think before you open your mouth." He replied, a little bit annoyance crept into his voice.

Harry looked at him, his killing curse eyes questioning. It didn't take the boy long to figure out what he meant. Like he had noticed before, Harry wasn't stupid, he just wasn't used to using his brain to much, again something that needed to change.

"You can teach me how the fight of dark magic?" Even though Harry posed it as a question, it was a statement, Tom could tell that from the look in the boy's eyes.

"Yes, I could teach you things, Black does not know. I could show you dark spells and teach you how to block them or annul them completely." He said.

Harry stopped walking to stare at him. The boy was working something out, he could see the boy's mind work. Again the conclusion came quickly. "There's a catch, isn't there? You can't teach me anything in this form."

Tom smiled. "No, I can not. I need my own body to preform magic."

"I thought so." The Gryffindor continued his trip to the commonroom. "I don't think I want to know, but what do you need to get your body back?"

He smirked. Harry was not going to like this, but there were on this topic, he would not lie, he promised that to the boy, and in this case he was not going to lie, he just never said he would reveal everything.

"I need to get back my horcruxes." Well, they were actually Voldemorts, but the power of the horcruxes, would make his body complete, and maybe even make him stronger then his older self.

"I suppose it is some form of dark magic?" Harry asked, already regretting the question.

"Yes, it is. I could explain it to you, but I think you will find it horrific. Think about it." Tom concluded the conversation. They had arrived at the portrait of the Fat Lady.

"I will." Was all that Harry said, and he actually meant it.

* * *

Tom sat on the couch, near the fireplace, looking annoyed at Harry and his two friends. Since they had arrived an hour ago, they hadn't left Harry alone for one minute. He had to admit that the girl, Hermoine, a mudblood, was not stupid. She was smart in her own way. A little know-it-all. The read-head was just plain stupid. The Weasley probably couldn't tell the difference between left and right.

But they were Harry's friend, and if he wanted the boy's help, he had to accept them. He listened with half a ear to the conversation, seeing how it was still about the dead boy, Seamus, and what they had been through.

Boring.

"Harry, you know what V...Voldemort is trying right?" The girl asked. This got Tom's attention. If it was about Voldemort and his motifs, it was worth listening to. Maybe they would come up with a different idea for why his older self was doing this.

"I know." The Golden boy replied. "But it's not going to work. Sirius is going to teach me some stuff."

The green eyes rested upon Tom for a moment. He smiled at the boy, knowing all to well what Harry was thinking. He had set the boy's mind to work, which was good, for him.

"We need to learn to defend ourself as well, Harry." Hermoine continued.

"Yeah mate, we want to be able to protect you as well." The red-head agreed.

"I can protect myself. If anything, you two need to stay out of this." Tom could feel a tingle of anger, coming from Harry. "I've told you this before, and I'm going to tell you again, this is my fight! You are my best friends, I don't want to get you in any more danger."

"It's not your fight." The girl countered. "He's attacking everyone, not just you. And we're going to be in danger, whether you want it or not."

"NO!" Harry's anger flared. "This is not your fight! Neither of you is mentioned in the stupid prophecy I am! I'm the one, who has to fight him, not you! I'm the one who has to kill him! And you two will bloody well stay away, if I can help it!"

Well, this would be quit the shock for the two Gryffindor's, hearing that their best friend had such a cruel destiny. Perhaps even enough of a shock that the both of them would leave Harry alone, for now.

Tom raised an eyebrow. The mudblood didn't look shock at all. Her eyes were filled with...guilt? Why would she feel guilty? There was no reason to. After all it was not their fault that Harry had to fight with Voldemort, his older self, until either of them was dead.

He eyes darted towards to redhead. The boy was looking at his shoes, not wanting to look Harry straight in the eye. Another sign of guilt. They had done something, the both of them, which they shouldn't have done. Look at that, not every goody-goody Gryffindor was a sacred angel apparently.

Harry seemed to notice this as well. He really had a good influence on the boy, at least now the Gryffindor Golden boy used his brains, instead of yelling on and on, without realising something was wrong. Maybe one day the boy wouldn't show his emotions that rapidly any more, not that it mattered to him,by that time, he hoped he was done with the boy and had his own life back, if Harry was still alive then.

"Harry..." Hermoine began, softly. "We already knew."

"You knew what?" Harry asked.

The question was just something Harry posed to his friends, to get some extra time to think. It was a classical move to hide your confused thoughts or feelings. The mudblood probably knew this, but answered anyway, just like social protocol stated.

"About the prophecy." She said.

"How?" Harry wasn't able to form full sentences right now. Tom could feel his confusion and even the pain of betrayal. Not that the boy would form full sentences at any other occasion, but at least this time Harry had an excuse, or in Tom's eyes he had.

"We heard the conversation between you and Professor Dumbledore." She swallowed.

"You followed me?" Harry exploded again, getting up from his seat this time.

"We kinda had to." The Weasley said. "You were acting weird, you didn't even talk to us anymore."

"That's because I had some things to figure out, on my own!" The Golden boy yelled back. "How could you? I thought you two trusted me?! I thought I could trust you."

"You can trust us." Hermoine tried again.

"Apparently I can't." Harry replied.

Ouch. It had never been Tom's meaning to split the Golden trio up, but it was something he could use. How more separated Harry was, how easier it would be for him to claim the boy's allegiance entirely. This could work out perfectly, for him at least. For now he would have Harry's full attention, which would result in him getting a physical body faster.

"Harry please. We're your friends." The mudblood tried a second time.

"I...Please leave me alone, I need to think about this." Harry looked at the both of them for a second longer, before leaving the commonroom once more.

Tom got up from he chair, ready to follow the guardian of his diary, when the red-head spoke again.

"We should have told him about Dumbledore."

"And then what? The girl replied. "He would trust us even less. Dumbeldore has wronged him, if Harry heard what the headmaster had asked of us, he would be furious. And probably wouldn't forgive us."

"Then w..."

Before he could hear more, his link with the diary, and therefore Harry, dragged him out of the commonroom, all the way up to the astronomytower.

"This is getting to be a habit of yours." Tom remarked.

"I really don't want to talk to you now Riddle." The boy stared out onto the landscape down below.

He ignored the boy. "You know, they were just worried." He began, knowing all to well it would do no good to tell Harry not to trust is friends. The boy would probably go back to them, just because he said the boy shouldn't. "I would be worried to, if one of my friends started to act weird, like you have apparently been doing."

"Can you even feel worried?" The other asked rather dry. "Better yet, did you ever had any real friends?"

"About my own health perhaps, but not about others. I do not particularly care what others do with their life, as long as it benefits me." He promised Harry not to lie, so he wouldn't, but that didn't mean he didn't have an answer ready for everything, the boy came up with.

"Then why are you telling me this? You don't care about me or my friends." Harry inquired.

"No I do not, but I care about myself. As long as you are unhappy and angry like this, I will have a huge headache, which I can not live with. So in order to make you happy again, I am giving you some advise, you do not have to take it ofcourse, they have done something they should not have, under any circumstances." It was still no lie, just not the entire truth. The Golden boy probably didn't realise that the full truth was not part of their deal.

"I don't think that I will take any advise from you. You are after all a crazy fruitloop, without any friendship-experience whatsoever." The boy said flatly.

"Fruitloop?" He asked.

"Yes, it's something I picked up when Dudley was watching this cartoon on the telly." Harry shrugged.

"I thought that we had agreed you would not longer insult me or use any kind of vulgar language." How long was it going to take to learn this lesson to the boy. He did not know however what the word 'fruitloop' exactly meant, but he would look it up later.

"It's not an insult, if it's the truth. It's not my fault you can't handle it." The boy replicated.

"One can still feel insulted, even thought it is not an actual insult." How could he not feel insulted? Every time they talked, the Gryffindor insulted him.

"Merlin's beard." Harry looked at him." You don't know what it means, now do you?"

"As a matter of fact I do not. We did not use that kind of language back in my time." Tom tried to look as negligent as possible, and he succeeded.

The Gryffindor snickered. "Should I get you a modern dictionary for your birthday?"

"It is not my birthday." Tom stated.

"Seriousy?' Harry raised an eyebrow. "That's what you got from that?"

"I am trying to ignore your feeble attempt at a joke." He retorted. "Now could we talk about something more interesting?"

"When is your birthday?" Harry completely ignored his request, like he ignored the boy at the start of their conversation. The Gryffindor looked at him leaning on the window-ledge.

"December the 31th, if you must know." Tom never celebrated his birthday During his years at Hogwarts, his so-called friends had bought him gifts, one of them more useless then the next. But he didn't like celebrating it. Perhaps because the so-called birthday party's were to noisy for him. During such times they would find him in a dark corner of the library, reading a book, or studying. He could hardly ruin every party they had, now could he?

"Must be hard to celebrate your birthday on the same day as New years eve." Harry looked away again, apparently recessed in his own thoughts.

"Not really, I do not celebrate either." What was it with everyone and their celebrations?

"I understand." The boy said softly.

Harry understood? He highly doubted that. Everyone loved parties and celebrations, the boy being who he was, had probably been loaded with presents and celebrations. Tom looked at his companion. On the other hand Harry had been raised by muggles, the boy's relatives, who didn't really care much about him.

No one was like him, that's what he had always thought. Until he had met Harry. The Golden boy wasn't the perfect hero, without problems or flaws. Like him the boy had been unloved for the better part of his young live, not knowing what was going on, until Dumbledore showed up. But there was a big difference between the two of them. He knew what he wanted and how to get it, by any means necessary, Harry did not. The boy was a puppet and probably always would be, unless someone would change that, someone like him. It was already happening. Without him Harry probably wouldn't have gone against the old fool.

"What is it you want most Riddle? More than power, or world domination." The Gryffindor still didn't look at him.

"Who said I wanted world domination?" He asked. What did he want most? A body to begin with. And then he wanted all of his powers back, and perhaps a few more. There were so many things he wanted, and he would get them all.

"I'm serious, Riddle." Harry looked at him again, there was something in those killing curse eyes Tom could not explain. "What is it you want, what is it you wish for with whole your heart?"

"I do not have a heart, remember Harry?" And with those words he disappeared. At this moment he rather stayed in the darkness, then face the Golden boy and answer that question. He honestly didn't know. Or perhaps he did, but it scared him. In any case, he wouldn't tell Harry. Let the boy believe he wanted something like world domination.


	16. Chapter 16

_I'm rather pleased about this chapter. In the next one I will explain what happend in the chamber of secrets, and how the diary survived._

* * *

It had been three weeks since their fight with Harry. Hermoine was more worried then before. Their best friend didn't speak to anyone, not them, not the teachers, not any of their other housemates or friends. Their friend was always on his own, talking to himself, or perhaps to the ghost they had seen a couple of weeks back.

She was grateful that Harry still went to Sirius, for his private defence-lessons. And somehow the boy managed to avoid all contact with Umbridge The old toad often wondered where the boy-who-lived had gone, but none of them would tell her.

On the upside Harry looked better. He looked stronger and less pale again, which was good. But that didn't stop her from worrying every second. She wanted to go to him and talk to him, but she didn't dare.

Harry had told them he wanted to think, and she would let him. What they had done wasn't totally fair towards their best friend, but they only did because they loved him. They had worried about him, and they still did. But Harry didn't seem to understand it, not any more. In the past they would have talked about it, forgiven each other and moved on, but their friend had changed over de summer.

Hermoine would have loved to say that it was all because of the traumatizing events of last year, but she knew that wasn't true. At the beginning of the summer, there had been a lot of letters from Harry. About his nightmares, about Voldemort and about the boy's relatives, but all of a sudden they had stopped, and Harry had practically ignored them. No more letters, no real conversations, not since since their fight when the boy had first arrived at Grimmauldplace, nothing. And then they went back to Hogwarts. Hermoine had half expected that everything would go back to normal, but that didn't happen. Harry was still distant. They just made it worse.

She looked at her best friend, at the end of the Gryffindor table, reading a book. Harry rarely read anything, especially during breakfast, but that had changed as well. She sighed.

"I want to talk to him Ron."

The boy across the table looked up from his filled plate, his mouth full of bacon and toast. "Hmm." Was all the red-head said.

"He looks lonely." She said worriedly.

"What do you want us to do 'Moine?" Ron asked. "Walk towards him and just demand our friendship back?"

"That's exactly what we're going to do." She said, standing up. "He's our best friend, we need to be there for him. Especially now."

"Can we do it after breakfast?" The red-head mumbled, putting another piece of toast in his mouth.

"Ronald!" She looked stern at him. "Get on your feet. This is Harry we're talking about."

The red-head grabbed his toast and followed her reluctantly. They walked towards their best friend, who didn't even noticed they were there.

"Harry, can we talk?" She bit her lip, a bit nervous now.

The boy looked up, his eyes looked distant, he was still wrapped in the context of the book. It took him several seconds before reacting to her words. "Uhm...yeah, sure."

"We're really sorry and we miss you." She said.

He looked at her, a turmoil of emotions went through his eyes. "I know. I miss you guys to, but I just don't know how to react to the both of you right now."

"We didn't betray you mate." Ron said, finally managing to talk without a piece of toast in his mouth. "We were just worried. You would have done the same."

"No I wouldn't." Harry said, the anger was surfacing in his voice now.

"Harry." Hermoine took a step closer. "We just want to be there for you. Is there any way you could forgive us?"

The boy got up from the table and tucked away the thick book. "This isn't about forgiveness, 'Moine, this is about trust, and I can't trust either of you right now."

"We've been through so much together." Hermoine tried. "Th..."

Harry interrupted her. "I've know what we've been through 'Moine. But things change. There are certain things I need to deal with myself."

She noticed Harry's hand moving towards something tucked away underneath his robe. She was unable to see what it was, but whatever it was, it had something to do with the changes their friend was going through.

"Right now I don't need either of you. I need to do this on my own, and when I feel ready to trust you again, I will come to you. Just give me some time to figure this out." Harry walked passed them, without looking back once.

This was not the Harry they knew. Their friend would have forgiven them the moment they came clean. The boy they knew, would have told them what was going on. Asking for help was something Harry never did, but he was able to accept it. That had changed. Harry was now hell bent on doing everything on his own.

"What now?" Ron looked at her. "I need my best friend back, 'Moine. It's no fun without him."

"I don't know Ron." She said softly, with pain in her heart. "I suppose there is nothing we can do, but wait."

* * *

"Come in quickly." Sirius said, ushering Harry into the room of requirements.

Harry stepped through the door, closing it behind him. Like last time the room had formed itself in a big practice area. There were dummies, which they could use to practice on, but it was not the same as duelling against one another.

His godfather stepped towards him and pulled him into an embrace. "How are you doing?"

"Okay I guess." He said, not wanting to talk about Ron and Hermoine. His missed his friends, more then he cared to admit at the moment, but until he had figured things out with Riddle, he would not let them close again. He had forgiven them for their intrusion of his privacy, and he understood why they had done it, but for now it would be safer if they weren't close to him.

"I'm guessing asking what's wrong, is not going to work here." Sirius remarked.

"No, it won't. Can we start with the lesson please?" He knew his godfather only wanted to take care of him, but for the moment, he didn't want to talk about it, especially because of the Slytherin Heir, currently present in the room.

"Al right then." Sirius smiled at him. "The last three times we went through all the basic spells, you have learned over the years. Like I've said before it's a good arsenal of spells, but they're rather easy to counter."

Harry nodded. He knew that much, each time he had fought with anyone, they simply had to use 'protego' or some other protective spell, and his spells were rendered useless.

"One way to prevent this is by using a spell, without actually saying the incantation." The older man continued.

"And you can teach me this?" Harry asked. This would come in rather handy, he knew that much.

"Yes, it is actually not that hard, but it is something that will improve your chances of success greatly. You have already mastered the patronus-charm, which is an incredible feat, that will help you to control this as well." His godfather said, taking his own wand out.

The man flicked his wand at one of the dummy's, it exploded into little bits and pieces. "Just concentrate on what you want to accomplish and flick your wand."

"Al right." Harry looked intently a one of the dummy's before flicking his wand. Nothing happened.

"What spell did you want to use?" Sirius asked him.

"Wingardium Leviosa, it's one of the first spells we learned, and it actually saved us from a troll in our first year."

"A troll?" Riddle leaned against one of the four walls, following every word of the conversation.

"Yes a troll." Right now Harry had no patience for the Slytherin Heir, he would have preferred it to leave the older boy on his own, somewhere in the Gryffindor tower, but Riddle would have given him a bad headache, which would not have been that convenient right now.

Sirius raised an eyebrow. "Harry, are you sure you are al right."

"Uhm...yeah, fine Sirius. It's just...not everyone believes me when I tell them Ron knocked out an adult troll with just his wand." He shrugged.

"I believe Ron is capable of more than most people think he is." His godfather replied. The man wasn't prepared to doubt him, Harry knew this much. "Wingardium leviosa is a somewhat more complicated charm, because of the wand-motion you need to make. You still need to do that if you want to use the charm, which will probably reveal the spell you've used anyway. This kind of magic works better with actual spells and curses, and some more simple charms, like the disarming charm. You can't conjure a patronus either with this method."

"What about the unforgivables?" Harry asked.

"Bot the cruciatuscurse and the killingcurse can be used speechless, but the imperiuscurse is one of the exceptions, it has something to do with the control over other people." Sirius answered. "But I doubt any deatheater would use either of them speechless, because the words are what invokes the fear."

"But it is possible to kill someone, without yelling the curse..." This was something he did not like, without the words, he would be unable to know what was going to happen.

"Yes it is. Now try it again. If you can conjure a patronus, you can do this." The older man smiled again.

"Yes Harry." Riddle teased. "Please try again, I know we will both love to see you fail."

"Shut up." Harry bit back. He knew Riddle was only trying to distract him, but he got angry nonetheless. He should have told the Slytherin not to say a worth during his practises with his godfather. After all the older boy made a promise not to speak when in the presence of others, if Harry should ask him.

"Harry?" Sirius looked at him. "I know you don't want to talk about...whatever it is that is keeping you so tense, but I think you should. You are yelling into thin air."

He bit his lip. It was impossible to keep this from everyone. Most of his closest friends and family already suspected something was wrong. His godfather was going to ask questions, more and more, until he would break and spill everything anyway. Besides, it would be easier to keep this secret if he had someone to help him keep it. If only Sirius would accept it, and not betray him to either Ron and Hermoine, or worse Dumbledore.

"If I tell you, you must promise me, not to tell anyone else and not to judge me." If there was someone in this world, who would understand, it would be Sirius. But this was about the murderer of his parent, Sirius his friends.

"Ofcourse." Sirius replied immediately.

"Not even... no, especially not to Dumbledore." He said explicit.

"After what he kept from you, I think we can keep a secret or two from him." His godfather said.

"Al right then." A couch appeared in the room. Harry was to first one to sit down. He didn't look at Riddle once, because he knew the elder would not like this. "Do you know Tom Riddle?"

"Tom Riddle?" Sirius questioned. "I can't say I ever heard of him."

"Of course you haven't, I doubt Dumbledore would tell anyone about him." Another secret Dumbledore kept from the order. It probably wasn't that important now, but it was still a secret the old man had kept. "In my second year I found a diary, it belonged to Tom Riddle. He told me about the Heir of Slytherin and about the chamber of secrets. It were lies at first, he's good at that, lying."

"I suppose you are going to tell me what that has to do with this." Sirius interjected.

"Yeah, I'm getting there." He said, getting back to his 'story'. "I kept the diary. I was supposed to destroy it, in order the save Ginny, but I didn't. I kept the diary, for two years. And this summer I opened it. Tom Riddle's soul is trapped in that Diary, or at least a part of it."

It was hard to explain this, partly because of the knowledge Sirius lacked about Tom Riddle and the events of his second year.

"I started talking to him again, and we've made a few magical promises, or at least I think they're magical. I don't know much about it. Anyway, I need to take the diary with me at all times, and since he got out of the diary, I can actually see him, and talk to him. He's here at this very moment, getting on my nerves, like always. He's kind of a git." Harry shrugged nervously.

Sirius just looked at him, apparently unsure what to say to this. Harry could imagine that the story didn't make that much sense. But it was fairly hard to explain what had happened two years ago, let alone what happened this summer.

"But that's not all. Tom Riddle is the Heir of Slytherin, the one that set the basilisk on the muggleborns, the one that almost killed Ginny, if I hadn't stopped him. And...remember you promised you wouldn't judge me?" He added.

His godfather just nodded, unable to say anything about it just yet, but feeling the pending horrible conclusion to the tale.

"Well...Riddle is the younger version of Voldemort. He is the sixteen year old Voldemort, trapped in a diary from fifty...somewhat years." For the first time he looked away from Sirius, towards Riddle, who simply looked outraged, and not happy at all.

"Harry..." Sirius was struggling to find the right words. "I know how convincing he can be, but you can't trust him."

"I know that. I don't trust him, but we're connected, for the time being." He was going to be completely honest and he was going to answer every question Sirius had, as calmly as possible.

"He killed your parents." Sirius added, trying to process the whole thing.

"No, he didn't. At least not yet. I blame Voldemort for that, not Riddle." The Slytherin hadn't done any of the horrible things, as far as he knew.

"What were the promises you made to him?" Sirius asked.

"Let's see. I promised to write to him every day, but that promised was annulled by a later promise he made to me. I don't have to write him every day, if he talks to me, which is basically the same thing, but he can't talk to me if there are others in the room and he can't lie to me. He was sort of curious about you, so I promised him I would tell him everything he wanted to know about you, but I don't think is interested in that any more." He shrugged again, trying to remember what other things he had promised. "And I also promised him the chance to show him who he really was, so I can't really judge the git until his finished."

"Is that what you were doing when I heard you in the kitchen at my parents place?" Sirius asked, not at all comfortable with the idea of Voldemort knowing him to well. "You still can not trust him Harry. Who says he won't break that promise and lie to you anyway? Who says he is telling the complete truth? He can still keep things from you."

Harry had thought about that to. But he was quit sure there was no way for Riddle to break any of those promises, otherwise the elder would have done that weeks ago. "I know he won't tell me everything, but at least what he tells me is the truth, or a twisted version of it. I'm pretty sure I know him well enough to know when he is misleading me."

His godfather still looked sceptical, but appeared to let the matter go for now. "Al right then. I will trust in your judgement, like I always do. As far as I know, you've never made any big mistakes."

"Thanks Sirius, I knew I could count on you." He never expected it to go so well, but he knew rather certain that more questions would follow. Sirius was probably thinking things over.

"Now tell me Harry, what does he want from you?"

"He wants to get his own body back." Harry looked at Riddle. "Don't look at me like that, I trust him." The Slytherin's look told hem everything, there was no trust there. He rolled his eyes.

"I'm going to ignore that comment." His Godfather answered. "Although I think it is a bit weird, you talking to someone I can't see or hear. But back to the point, how does he want to get his body back?"

Ha yes, the crucial part. He hadn't asked Riddle anything else about the horcruxes, because he wasn't sure he wanted to accept the 'deal'. Learning how to defend himself from dark spells, was something very useful in a war against dark wizards. There was no better teacher, then his greatest enemy himself.

"Harry!" It was Riddle who spoke, apparently it took quit some effort. "Do. Not. Dare."

He decided to ignore the Slytherin heir once more. "Voldemort made something like horcruxes. I don't know what they are, or what they do, but those will help Riddle to gain his body and his own power back."

"Are you sure he said horcruxes. Multiple?" Sirius looked pale again.

"Yeah, pretty sure. Why? What are they?"

"It's dark magic, very dark magic. They're...how do I explain this the best..." His godfather had a thoughtful look about him.

"They are pieces of my soul. I myself am a horcrux." Riddle explained, before Sirius could.

"Pieces of your soul? And what do they do?" Harry still felt puzzled. This was something he had never heard. Pieces of one's soul.

"I suppose the man himself can explain it better then I can." The Black said, sitting back, thinking about it himself. "I really don't know that much about it. Except what Tom Riddle? Just explained."

"Yes pieces of my soul. And tell the mutt that he can not explain anything, even if he wanted to." Riddle rolled his eyes, while pushing his non-physical body away from the wall, towards the couch they were sitting on. "They keep me alive. If my body, or Voldmort's for tat matter, is destroyed, he...we can be revived with some help of one of the horcruxes. He, or rather we, can never die as long as they exist."

"Does Dumbledore know this?" Harry asked, forgetting Sirius was still here, and staring at him.

"I think he has his suspicion. Although he would have been a lot further, if you had given him my diary." Riddle shrugged, seemingly not caring.

"In return for helping you find them, you will teach me more about magic?" Harry asked.

"Yes." Riddle simply answered.

Harry shook his head. "No. For each horcrux we find, you will give me something." He didn't know how many of them there were, but this way he had enough to bargain with, to get what he could get out of all of this.

"Is destroying you arch-enemy not enough?" The Slytherin asked.

"No, I will be creating a new one, one that might be more powerful." He was not going to make this to easy for Riddle. "I will help you to find and obtain each and every one of your horcruxes, at all costs, and in return I can ask you something, that you can't refuse, for each horcrux."

"Harry be careful, don't put yourself in a bigger mess." Sirius looked at him. "Please."

Riddle ignored the black. "If you help me find and obtain each and every one of my horcruxes at all cost, I will grant you something in return, which is negotiable, beforehand, the first thing being me teaching you about dark magic and how to fight it. You also can not stop until we found and obtained all horcruxes. I do not want you to run away in the middle."

Harry looked from his godfather to Riddle and back again, thinking through each and every word Riddle had said. It sounded fair enough, but he would be bound to the Slytherin heir even more, in away he could not turn back. "That sounds reasonable. I just have one more condition, I won't do anything that will put my friends or family in danger, or that will kill me. And Sirius can come with us, if he prefers to."

"You just said 'at all cost', but if that is what you want, I will comply. After all I have no use for you dead, and I am sure you will not help me If I caused harm to the ones you love." The Slytherin Heir accepted.

"Under those therms I promise I will help you." Harry placed a hand on his robe, exactly where the diary was.

"Then I promise to comply with your therms as well." Again the magic went through the both of them, so strong that even Sirius could feel it.

"I have a bad feeling about this." Sirius mumbled, looking from Harry, to the point he guessed Riddle should be. A very bad feeling.


	17. Chapter 17

_I finally did it! A new chapter. is longer then any chapter I've written before, so that's good. And I'm quit pleased about it. i don't know if this resolves my writtersblock, but at least you have a new chapter to read. Thanks again for the support everyone!_

* * *

Sirius stared at the fake window, in the room of requirements. The information that Harry had given him, was a lot to process. He felt like he needed to talk to someone, but he gave Harry his word, he would not tell Dumbledore. Besides, he was getting sick of it. The man never helped them, not once. He was going to trust Harry on this one, even if it was the junior Dark Lord they were dealing with.

The only thing he could do right now, was protect Harry, in every way possible. He didn't got that chance fourteen years ago, but he was taking it right now. The first thing he needed to do, was find out more about those horcruxes. He was pretty sure he had read about them somewhere before, probably in one of the books at Grimmauldplace. Perhaps that was a good place to start.

He got up from the chair and walked towards the door, but before he could open it, someone else came inside. At first Sirius thought it would probably be Harry, but it wasn't.

"Sirius?"

"Remus." He replied, happy to see his old friend. "What are you doing here?"

"Dumbledore said you might be here. I want to talk to you." Remus said, closing the door behind him.

The werewolf looked at him, a soft frown appeared upon Remus his young face. "You look worried, did something happen?"

"No." He answered, a bit to quick. He had lost a great deal of his skills in Azkaban, lying to the dementors didn't really work. Even if it did, those creatures didn't care.

"Sirius, don't." Remus said, much softer now. "I know you, better then anyone else does, don't lie to me."

"I can't tell you, I promised Harry." And he would keep his promise. He knew he could trust Remus, more then anyone else, but he also knew the werewolf would tell Dumbledore. If it had been anything else, his old friend would not say a word, but this was still Voldemort they were talking about.

"We all know something is wrong with Harry. If you would just tell me, we c..." Remus started

"No. I promised Harry I wouldn't tell anyone. Don't make me break my word, his my godson." Harry would never trust him with anything else again. This was important. "I am helping him, if it gets dangerous, I will tell you, but for the time being..."

"I understand. If there is anything I can do, please tell me."

"You could help me get through the castle." Sirius smiled slightly.

"Can't you just change into a dog and walk out?" Remus asked, raising a brow.

"Not anymore. Some first years saw me last time, they had me cornered for nearly half an hour, before I managed to escape." His old friend started to laugh. It actually was a bit funny, seeing how they would run away screaming if they knew who he was. "I'll bet they will give me biscuits next time. I'm not willing to change into a dog completely, however comfortable that might be."

The werewolf snickered softly, before regaining his composure. "All right. I will get you out. Where do you need to go?"

"Grimmauldplace." Sirius never said home. His parents house had never been his home. Hogwarts was more a home to him, and at the Potters. He had loved it at the Potters. They had bee really nice to him, and spending the summer with his best friend, had been amazing. But that was all in the past now.

"Don't move." Remus said, taking out his wand and aiming it at Sirius. It took only a few simple spells, to change Sirius. His normal middle long black hair, was now short and brown. His skin was tanned, and his face was somewhat more rectangular. The only thing that remained the same were his grey eyes. "That will have to do."

"Thank you Remus." Sirius left the room of requirements, with Remus in his wake.

* * *

Tom was getting really annoyed. Harry hadn't spoke to him since the boy had told the mutt about him. He was absolutely positively sure that Sirius Black would tell Dumbledore. After all the Black was a traitor. The man had betrayed his parents, his family and pretty much everything they had stood for. Tom knew others would not see it a treachery, only as a choice, just a young man picking a side. But that didn't make the mutt any less a dog of Dumbledore. Everyone on the light side, always did what the old fool said, they all thought Dumbles was a great and wise leader. If they only knew.

But he didn't care about Dumbledore, or even the mutt for that matter, he cared about his plans, about the influence others would have on Harry. He needed the boy, whether he liked it or not. Without the Gryffindor Golden boy he was unable to obtain his horcruxes, and regain his body and power again. He would lose Harry if the mutt told Dumbledore. The old fool would make sure that Harry never got near him again, that his diary got destroyed.

But there was nothing he could do to stop Black, not in the position he was in now. He needed someone, besides Harry, to do things for him, like keeping Black in check.

He crossed his arms, looking at Harry now. The boy was sitting in a chair, right next to the fireplace in the Gryffindor tower. His two friends -or not really friends right now- Ron and Hermoine were looking at him once in a while, whispering to each other.

"May I enquire why you are ignoring the redhead and the mu...muggleborn?" It was unwise to call the girl a mudblood in Harry's presence, the golden boy would not accept it.

"You may not." The boy answered.

Tom noticed how good the boy got in speaking without even moving his lips. No one had heard the boy, except for him ofcourse. The redhead and the mudblood just went on with their whispered conversation, which meant they hadn't detected Harry's lip movements either.

"You know what I think?" Tom asked, completely ignoring the boy. "I think you do not want them close to you, not because of what they did. After all they were only protecting you, but because of me. You are afraid that they will think that you are going dark. You are afraid of their reaction. The girl might respond better then the redhead, seeing how I did 'play' with his sister, setting her up for murder – which unfortunately did not happen-, and ofcourse almost killing her. Did you even tell them what happened that evening? Does Ginny know?"

He smiled. Harry's shoulders had tensed and his eyes had stopped in the middle of the page. "I see. You have not told them. I can understand that, after all you did spare my life, and are even helping me now. I am pretty sure Ronald would never talk to you again, if he knew you only barely managed to save his sister, because you wanted to spare the life of a psychopathic mass-murderer. Even your brave Gryffindor friends do not fully comprehend your absurd hero-complex."

The boy's muscles were more tensed then every, like he was ready to jump up and yell at him any minute now, but that would be unwise. Tom didn't really care, any reaction was better then none at all.

"I am sure Granger would understand." He continued relentless. "She will listen to you, let you finish your story, comfort you even, telling you that 'you did the right thing' and that 'You are not a murderer'. But how will she react when she learns you are helping the same mass-murdering psychopath to regain his physical form?"

He smirked. "She would betray your trust in an instant, exposing me and the diary to Dumbledore. You will go through hell. The whole school would think that you went dark, aiding the one man, who killed your parents. The redheads would hate you, every single one of your friends would. And the mudblood would tell you 'it is better this way' or something similar. She would probably be the only person, who does not think you have completely lost your mind. Well, her and the mutt ofcourse."

"Are you punishing me for telling Sirius?" Harry looked up from his book, his green eyes were burning.

"As a matter of fact I am." He simply answered. "But I would be a little bit more quiet about it."

Tom gestured towards the people sitting closest to the both of them, they were staring at Harry, some confused, others questioning.

"I dozed of." The boy murmured. Most of them went back to what they were doing. Only the mudblood and the redhead were still looking at Harry.

Tom got up at the same time as Harry did, anticipating the boy's moves. They both knew Harry just had to say the words and he would be quiet, but the boy also knew he would keep pestering him, until he got it out of his system.

The door of the boy's dormitories closed behind them. Tom looked at Harry. The boy's shoulders were still tensed, but Harry was visibly calming himself. When the Gryffindor finally turned towards him, there was no sign of anger left.

"I had every right to tell Sirius. You have no idea how hard this is on me." Harry spoke softer then Tom thought he would. "I can't tell my friends, for the exact reason, you so clearly explained to me a few minutes ago. I push them away, to keep your bloody secret. Do you even realise what this is doing to me? I – had – to – tell - someone. I – had – to – trust - someone. Despite you being here, I feel more alone then ever. So judge me, punish me, if that pleases you, but remember, I'll never be one of your puppets."

Tom just studied him. There was something different about the boy, he just couldn't say what it was. He wasn't yelling. There was anger, yes, but it was subdued, masked even. He was pretty sure that Harry felt pain as well, even if he couldn't feel it nor see it. Harry was growing stronger.

"Do mind your words." Was the first thing, that came over his lips. "I told you before, and I will tell you again, I do not like swearing, for whatever reason. When are you going to learn that?"

A defiant look crossed Harry's features.

"Please do not answer that." Tom continued. "It was a rhetorical question."

A sigh passed his lips. This was going to be harder then he predicted. Harry was emotional, and stoic at the same time. It was rather confusing. Him being apathetic didn't really help. He didn't understand the boy as much as he wished to, which made it harder to communicate, or get his opinion across, without offending the boy, or his friends and family.

There was no way he would ever be able to control Harry completely. They were both leaders, not followers, they were both unable to follow the rules and listen to others. He only had one other man like that in his live, ever. Albus Dumbledore. A man that could not be fooled by his charm and innocent smile. A man, who could see straight trough him. Harry was no different. Harry saw through almost every plot, even if the boy didn't know what he was actually planning.

There was no use in trying to act all innocent and charming, when you had someone like Harry at your side. The best he could do was answer Harry honestly and keep the boy's mind fixed on other things. That seemed to work rather good, even if he had to deal with all the insults and swearing. One day he would fix that, if he only worked on it long enough.

"Your feelings are in a way important to me." Tom started honestly, even though it was a twisted version of the truth. "But they are not all that matter. You need to use your head Harry. You can not be guided by your emotions. You might feel better now that someone knows, even if it is the mutt, but it could be dangerous, for you and for me."

He looked straight at the boy now. "Do you realise what will happen if he talks to Dumbledore, or anyone else for that matter?" He did not wait for a reply. "Ofcourse not, why would you? You are not going to be protected forever Harry. You can not be the Gryffindor Golden boy forever. One day, you will grow up, you might even defeat my older counterpart. And then what? You will just be another person, with a strange scar on his forehead."

Harry looked a bit taken aback, but did not say anything. "You are going to lose the diary and your only chance to really learn to defend yourself against the darkest magic in the world, Harry. If Sirius talks...

"He won't." The boy said, more vividly then before. "He promised and I believe him. Don't tell me what I can and can't do Riddle, I've told you before, I'm not one of your puppets. I don't regret the decision I made, and there is nothing you can do or say that will change my mind. No one is going to take your bloody diary away from me, so relax and stop acting like a jerk."

"Offending me will not help your case." Tom stated. "You should have discussed it with me first, before spilling not only your secret, but mine as well. You have made a mistake Harry, you should deal with the consequences."

After those words he disappeared into the diary. Leaving harry Alone with his thoughts was the best course of action right now. Tom knew the boy would think about what he had done and risked, there would be no such mistakes anymore, that he was certain of.

* * *

"Harry." He looked up. Neville stood in front of him. "There's a dog outside with a letter with your name on it."

Sirius! It had to be Sirius, who else could it be? He closed the book he was reading and tucked it away in his bag. "Thanks Neville." He said, before getting up and walking towards the exit. He stepped outside the Gryffindor tower and looked at the huge black dog, that was sitting there. The dog gave him the note, which he read, before nodding.

Sirius lead him away from the Gryffindor tower, not towards the room of requirements, like Harry had thought, but outside the castle, towards the forbidden forest. At the edge the dog stopped and transformed back to his human form.

"Is Tom Riddle with you?" His godfather asked.

Harry shook his head. As a matter of fact Riddle hadn't spoken or shown himself since the night before. He wasn't really complaining, for the first time in a while, he had been able to concentrate properly on his lessons. During potions he had even considered talking to Ron and Hermoine again, but he had realised it would be foolish now. First he had to deal with Tom and the first Horcrux they had to find. Even if they had no idea were to begin.

However it did concern him a little, Riddle never just left him alone, there was a reason behind it, he jut didn't knew what that reason was. But he would find out soon enough. The Slytherin Heir couldn't leave him alone forever, they had a deal.

"Good." Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder. "We need to talk about these Horcruxes."

"What about them?" Harry got the horrible feeling he was not going to like this, otherwise Sirius wouldn't be so secretive about it.

"I went back to Grimmauldplace yesterday. My parents had a lot of books about the dark arts." His Godfather continued. "I looked through a few of them. I had read about those horcruxes before. I..."

"Hang on." Harry said, interrupting Sirius. "How did you get out of the castle? If there was a giant black dog roaming through the castle, I would have heard of it."

"Remus helped me, but that's not the point. You ne..."

"Remus?" A horrible feeling crept into Harry. If Sirius had told Remus about what happened, it would not be long before Dumbledore would know the truth. The consequences would be disastrous, for him and, especially, for Riddle. Not that he really cared how Riddle felt. It would be like Riddle told him the night before. "Did you tell him?" He asked as nonchalantly as possible.

"No. I promised I wouldn't Harry." Sirius squeezed reassuringly in his shoulder. "I told him, I couldn't tell him and he helped me to get out of the castle. I won't break my promise to you."

Relief flowed through him. He had been right, Sirius wouldn't tell anyone. He was going to rub that under Riddle's nose, as soon as the Slytherin Heir talked to him again.

"Now harry, listen carefully. Horcruxes are really dark magic. You need to kill someone in order to make the ritual work. He might not have killed your parents, in the state he is now, but he might have killed someone else." Sirius saw the confused look on his face. "This diary you have of him, it might be a horcrux. If that is true, Riddle is a murderer already."

"But how do we determine that?" He asked. Riddle hadn't been completely honest with him apparently. He could just ask it, but who was to say that The Slytherin would be honest now? If they knew for sure, he could ask Riddle afterwards and see how honest the Slytherin actually was to him.

"You have to tell me what happened in the Chamber of Secrets, everything." Sirius said.

"Alright..."

_Harry ran towards the small body, laying at the feet of a huge statue. "Ginny? Ginny, please wake up." He said, softly shaking her, but the girl did not move. He had to get her out of here, before the basilisk came. _

"_She will not wake." A soft voice said. Harry looked up. A all to familiar young man walked towards him. It was Tom Riddle, the Slytherin headboy, from the diary. The weird thing was that he looked exactly the same as fifty years ago. The same young face, the same dark hair, that lay perfectly on his head. The same posture and dark eyes, that looked at you without revealing anything. _

"_Are you a ghost?" He asked, even though he knew the older boy wasn't._

"_No, A memory preserved in a fifty year old diary." Riddle answered. _

"_Can you help me to get Ginny out of here? There's a basilisk..." He tried to explain to the Slytherin._

"_I am afraid I can not help you." Riddle said. "And the Basilisk will not come until it is called."_

"_What...but we have to get her out of here." He searched for his wand, but couldn't find it anywhere. When he looked up again he saw it in Riddle's hand. "Give me back my wand."_

"_You will not need it." The elder said, walking around him and Ginny like a predator stalking his prey._

_Harry stared at the other for a few moments, before the realisation hit him. Hagrid wasn't the one, who opened the Chamber, he already knew that. But the answer had been in front of him all the time. A young Slytherin headboy, who claimed he had caught the Heir, but who was in fact the Heir of Slytherin himself. "It's you, you opened the Chamer fifty years ago."_

"_Very good, Harry." Riddle praised him._

"_You will be sad to hear then that the mandrake-root is almost ready and the students, who were paralysed by the basilisk, will be waking up soon."_

"_I suppose I forgot to tell you. I do not care about muggleborns anymore. For a few months now my target has been you." Riddle stopped in front of him. "Tell me Harry Potter, how did you manage to survive, while Lord Voldemort was destroyed?_

"_Why do you care? Voldemort was after your time!" Harry was getting angry. Ginny was getting colder underneath his fingers. She was dying. He had to get her to the hospital wing. He wasn't interested in what Riddle had to say._

_When Harry looked up again Riddle had written his full name in the air: Tom Morvolo Riddle. The letters started to change places until it spelled: I am Lord Voldemort._

_He stared at the letters. Tom Riddle was the younger Lord Voldemort? He knew Voldemort had to have been young once, but it was hard to see the resemblance. While Riddle was charming and good looking, Voldemort was was distorted and cruel. Even there eyes were different. Riddle had dark blue eyes, while Voldemorts were clearly red. _

"_So tell me Harry, how did you manage to survive, while the greatest Sorcerer of all time was destroyed?"_

_This conversation was getting on his nerves. He didn't know how he survived, no one did, or no one ever bothered to tell him anyway, he decided not to answer the question. "Dumbledore is the greatest sorcerer of all time!" He said instead._

_It was at that moment everything went to fast to comprehend. Riddle walked away from him, while a soft and beautiful song echoed through the chamber. Only a moment later Fawkes, Dumbledore's Phoenix, dropped the old sorting hat, before flying away again. _

_What use was the old sorting had to him? He could throw it at Riddle, but that would do no harm. He looked up when he recognised the parseltongue. A giant snake slithered out of the statue of Salasar Slytherin. _

_He was going to die, that was the first thought that entered Harry's mind, while closing his eyes. He could hear the massive body of the snake hitting the ground. He waited for the finishing blow, but it didn't come. When he dared to look up, he saw Fawks attacking the basilisk. Relieve flooded through him when he saw how the phoenix had blinded the snake. _

"_He can still smell you!" Riddle yelled, anger rising in his voice._

_Yeah, Harry hadn't thought of that. A moment later the snake attacked. He jumped out of the way, but only barely. That's when he saw it. A glimmer inside the sorting hat. He jumped towards it, dodging another attack from the basilisk. He pulled something out of the hat. A beautiful silver sword, with rubies set into his hilt. _

_Harry turned around without thinking, pushing the sword forward, right through the basilisk head. At the same time a strong pain went through his arm. He pulled the sword back, letting it fall onto the ground. The basilisk fell right beside it, dead._

_Riddle laughed stepping over the dead snake, like it was nothing. "You will die Harry Potter." The Slytherin whispered softly. "Basiliskvenom works rather fast." _

_Harry fell on his knees, taking Ginny's hand in his. She was very cold now, he wasn't even sure she was still breathing. Fawkes landed next to him, making a soft noise, before laying his head on Harry's arm. A few tears disappeared in the wound, after which it slowly stared to heal._

"_No!" Riddle sounded more angry then ever. "Oh well, then I will have to kill you myself." _

_Harry shivered, hearing the sadistic tone of voice. But he did not look up at Riddle. He grabbed the diary and the tooth, that had broken of in his arm. He looked at both of them, before looking up at Riddle._

_The look in The Slytherin's dark eyes changed. For a moment he saw fear in them. "Do not do that."_

_Harry hesitated for a moment. "Why not?" He asked, sounding stronger then he actually felt. _

"_It will kill me." _

_He stared dumbfounded at Riddle, he never expected an honest answer. "You tried to kill my friends. Why shouldn't I kill you right now."_

"_Because you are not like me, are you?" Riddle raised an eyebrow, there was nothing left of the fear._

_But doubt had settled into Harry once more. He resembled Riddle in so many way's. It scared him. What if he was like Riddle? He was almost put into Slytherin, the only reason he was placed in Gryffindor, was because he had chosen that. And that was what made them different. Their choices. _

"_No, I'm not." He said. His grip on the diary and the fang got stronger again. "I won't kill you, if I don't have to. But you leave me no choice."_

"_What do you want?" Riddle asked. "Your wand?" The elder threw his wand back to him. _

_Harry left the wand for what it was. The only thing standing between him and Riddle, was him holding this diary and the fang. "I want you to leave Ginny alone."_

"_And what? Go back into the diary?" _

"_I don't care. You can never use her again." Harry looked straight at the Slytherin Heir. "You can live on as a memory, nothing more."_

_Riddle looked back at him, a blank expression on his face. After a moment the elder nodded. "Al right then. I will leave her alone, and you will not destroy my diary."_

"_I won't." Harry said, knowing all to well he would kill Riddle if he did destroy the diary. He was not planning on becoming a murderer, ever if he could help it._

_Riddle started to fade, before disappearing entirely. At the same moment Ginny opened her eyes, staring at the dark ceiling of the chamber. Harry looked at her, before hastily hiding the diary underneath his robes. He didn't know why he did that, but he knew he couldn't give the diary to Dumbledore. He would keep it safe._

"_Harry?" The redhead looked at him. "Where's Riddle?"_

"_Gone." He answered. "The diary is destroyed." _

"I never told Dumbeldore. When he asked me what happened to the diary, I said it was destroyed. I don't think he really believed me, but..." Harry shrugged.

"I can't say I understand why you kept the diary, but I understand why you didn't stab the diary. You are right, it is the same as murder." Sirius said, after he heard the whole story.

They were sitting in the grass against a tree, pretty much like Harry had done that one faithful day during the summer. "Thank you." Harry said. It was nice to hear that someone thought he made the right decision.

"But Harry." Sirius looked at him. "This diary...it's a horcrux. Basiliskvenom is one of the few things strong enough to destroy a horcrux. You can destroy it and end this madness if you want."

Harry shook his head. "I don't want to. This may be our only chance to find all the parts of Voldemort's soul and destroy him, one way or the other."

"There are other ways." Sirius began.

"I'm not telling Dumbledore." He said firmly, before looking at Sirius. "I'm sorry, but I can't. I feel this is something I need to do myself. I don't expect you to understand."

"If this is what you want, I will support you and help you were I can Harry. I want to be the godfather I never had the chance to be."

Harry smiled at his godfather. It had been a while since he felt so happy. And for the first time not as lonely as he had gotten used to. "Thanks again Sirius." He said softly. "That means a lot to me."

* * *

When Tom finally decided to talk to Harry again, it was almost six in the evening. He appeared beside Harry, looking down at the boy. The Gryffindor and his godfather were seated against a tree, at the edge of the Forbidden forest.

He raised a brow, when he saw both were asleep, or at least drifted of to their subconscious. Something had happened. Why did he get this horrible feeling he would not like this? But Harry seemed pleased, happy even. There was a small smile on the boy's face, something he hadn't seen for a while.

He would get to the bottom of this.

* * *

_I know I rushed through the part in the chamber, but everyone knows what happened before Harry got the fang and the diary. i just wanted some of Harry's thoughts in it. Hope you like it anyway! _


	18. Chapter 18

_I've been busy lately, but my writersblock is gone, thank God for that. I hope you will enjoy the next chapter!_

* * *

How dare they? They were nothing! Flies in his web, nothing more! But ofcourse they did not know that, not yet. Soon they would see what he could do, how much better he was then they ever could be.

Freak. Ha! If they knew what he could do, they would not call him a freak. They would be at his feet, kissing them. He, Tom Marvolo Riddle, was a superior being. He was no ordinary pathetic child. He was special.

Tom looked at them, from his seat in the middle of the old bus. Amy Benson and Dennis Bishop. They called him a freak one to many times, and now they would see the consequences of their actions.

"Everyone of the bus." said. Tom looked outside. They were at the beach, once more. He knew this place. Each year they came here, during the summer. This was their holiday. Tom hated everything about it. The happy children, running around screaming and laughing, the sand, that get stuck in the weirdest places, even the smell of the ocean. It nauseated him.

There was only one thing about this place he liked, perhaps even loved. A cave, at the cliffs. It was hard to get there, but it was his little sanctuary. There were no screaming children there, no sand. The smell of the ocean was masked by the smell of the little lake inside the cave.

It was the perfect place to teach Amy and Dennis a lesson, one they would never forget.

He got of the bus as one of the last. Most of the other orphans ran towards the beach as fast as they could, wanting to enjoy every minute of the holiday, this one day they were not at Wool's Orphanage. Tom however was reluctant to go anywhere near the beach.

His eyes found Amy and Dennis. He just had to get close to them, and his holiday would be more then perfect. He looked around for , who was helping the smaller children. This was his chance to do what had to be done. Or rather, what he wanted to do.

He stepped towards his two fellow orphans.

"What do you want freak?" The boy asked.

Tom just smirked, stepping even closer. He whispered softly into the boy's ear. "I want to show you something." He said, before grabbing both of them. They vanished into thin air, appearing again inside the cave.

The girl got up first; looking around. Before going pale. "What happened? Where are we?" She asked.

He smirked again, stepping away from both of them. "This is my little sanctuary. I brought you here."

"Your...but...how?" She asked, stepping back a little. She tripped over the still fallen body of her friend. It took the two a while to get back up again. Tom just looked at them in amusement, waiting to tell them exactly what he did until they would properly listen to him. And then he would show them some more.

Dennis brushed the dirt of his clothes, looking around for the first time, while the girl hid behind his back, looking fearful at Tom now.

"What did you do?" The boy no longer sounded arrogant and strong, he sounded pathetic and scared, just the way he liked it.

"I brought you here, like I said to Miss Benson." He simply answered. He sat down on one of the bigger rocks inside the cave. "This." He gestured towards the lake that surrounded the island they were standing on. "Is my little sanctaury. Yo two are always so nice to me, so I have decided to show it to you."

"Yeah...but how did we get here?" Dennis asked, not minding the girl behind is back. "One minute we were on the beach and the next..."

"Ha yes." Tom said softly. "Have I mentioned I am special? I can do things...you can not even imagine." A soft laugh escaped his lips. "I will show you."

He concentrated. Suddenly the water started to move, some creatures came out of it. It were crabs, small ons, that lived near the coast, and big ones, that dwelled deeper in the ocean. The crawled on the island, towards the two orphans. Even Dennis tarted to look pale now.

Tom had always known he was special. He had a gift with animals, he was able to talk to them, to communicate with them. Especially snakes. He loved snakes. They came to him, whispered soft words, that no one else could here. They obeyed him, just like the crabs did.

He laughed when he saw how the small sea-creatures got closer to Amy and Dennis. Soon they were crawling up the two children's clothes. Amy screamed, trying to get the crabs of her clothes. Dennis just stood there, as white as a sheet, frozen with fear.

Soon both of them were covered by the crabs. However the crabs did not harm they. It was just the fear. All Tom wanted was to see the fear in the eyes of those two. And that had worked. His laugh died down, as did the screams. The sea-creatures went back from whence they came, leaving their prey on the ground, shivering and pale, with tears on their little faces.

Tom got up from his little seat. He walked towards them, crouching next to their shaking bodies. "Perhaps you were right, perhaps I am a freak. But that still puts me league's above the both of you." With those words he brought them back to the beach.

* * *

Tom opened his eyes. He was still seated in the chair, besides Harry's bed. It had only been an old memory, something from his past. He had no body, so there was no use for him to go to sleep, but sometimes during the night, he would drift of, and end up in one of his memories. But this one was unimportant. It was a memory he only relived once, when he was stuck in the diary. There was nothing in his early childhood worth remembering, least of all those two filthy little muggles.

And yet Tom felt there was a reason he relived this memory. He looked at The Gryffindor Golden boy, who was still sound asleep. While looking at Harry, he got this odd feeling that the memory was somehow important now.

What had happened afterwards, made his day. Amy and Dennis were traumatised. It was a lovely sight. For more then a week, no words came over their lips. And ever afterwards they never told anyone what had happened in that cave. It wasn't hard for Tom to lie about it either. They never called him a freak again, they never even looked at him again, afraid he would take them back and let them relive it all over again.

He didn't know what had happened to the two of them. Two years after he went to Hogwarts they were both gone, adopted in some family. He highly doubted they did something useful now. What would they say when they saw him again now, still young, only a couple of years older then they had last seen each other.

He realised now how childish and pathetic his display of power had been back then. If he were to meet them again now, he would torture them, until they went insane. A smirk appeared upon his face. Perhaps he would search for them one day, bring them back to that very same cave...

The cave! His eyes widened. Ofcourse! That had to be the reason. He stood up from his chair, walking over to Harry's bed and sitting down once more. "Harry." He said, already digging into the connection he and the boy had. "Wake up."

The boy stirred for a moment, before turning around. Tom raised an eyebrow. "Harry!" His full concentration went to the connection, making sure Harry was awoken from his dreams.

The boy sat up faster then he had expecting. The green eyes were wildly looking around the dormitory, his wand in his hand, ready to attack anyone who got to close. It took the Gryffindor several seconds to realise were he was, only for those green eyes the rest upon him. "Tom?" Harry still sounded sleepy. "What time is it?"

"Somewhere in the middle of the night, does it matter?" He asked, not caring about the boy's need for sleep at all. "I believe I found the first location containing one of my horcruxes."

"Hmm?" Harry yawned, laying his head back on the pillow. "Oh, that's great. Goodnight Riddle."

"Do you even realise what this means? If we get our hands on that horcrux, there is a great possibility I will have my body back." He looked at Harry, the boy stared back. Apparently the process in his mind was still slow and sleep-infested.

"You found one of your horcruxes?" Harry grabbed his glasses from the nightstand. "Where?"

"There is a possibility that this location contains one. I am not yet sure that there is one present, we will never be sure until we check it out." He explained simply. After all there was still a chance that this memory was just another memory, that had nothing to do whatsoever with his older-self or the horcruxes. "When I was a child, I found this cave at the shore. It was a rather...serene."

"Why do you think Voldemort would hide a horcrux there?" Harry asked. Tom raised his eyebrow yet again. "Right, sorry."

"It is a safe place, only I know of." He continued. "I am almost certain that there is a horcrux there. We are going Friday-evening."

"What?!" The boy almost yelled. They both looked around, but none of the other boys even stirred, they were still sound asleep. "I'm not going on Friday." Harry hissed. "It's Halloween."

"Precisely." Tom said. "No one is going to miss you in all that racket."

"But I want to go to the feast." The boy protested.

"We are going Friday, unless you would rather go now?" Tom got up from the bed again.

"Fine, but Sirius is coming with us." Harry said, turning his back toward him, and pulling the blanket over his head.

"Fine, If that is what you want, the mutt can come along." He rolled his eyes, before sitting down in his chair once more. He watched Harry' silhouette in the darkness for the rest of the night. He could tell from Harry's movements and breathing that the boy never got to sleep again.

The sun slowly rose. It was barely six in the morning, yet Harry got out of bed. Tom watched how the boy dressed himself. There was something tense about the boy's movements. He placed his fingertips against one another.

"Harry..."

"Don't." The Gryffindor said. "I don't want to talk about it now. I want to go to breakfast, go to my classes en pretend you don't exist. So shut the hell up and leave me alone."

Tom still looked at Harry, but said nothing. He could understand why his companion was so tensed. After all the boy was helping him regaining his body. Helping the enemy. Not only that, the trip could be dangerous. But that did not give Harry the right to treat him this way. However he had no choice but to deal with it for now. Until he had his own body back, he had no way to force Harry to do anything. Giving the Gryffindor a headache every five minutes wasn't going to work.

He would just have to be patient.

* * *

Harry sat down at breakfast, looking at the empty plate. Friday. It was only a couple of days away. It was going to be dangerous, he knew that much. Just his luck. There was never a Halloween he could just enjoy the feast, without any problems. This was going to be the worst Halloween ever.

There was a chance that this cave was just another cave. But knowing Riddle, the cave probably contained a horcrux. What would he do? Just give it to the Slytherin? Help him regain his body? He had promised that. But this was his one chance to destroy Voldemort. If he only knew how to destroy Horcruxes.

No, he had promised Riddle he would help him to regain his body. He was not going to break that promise. Besides he was getting something out of it to.

He got up again, without eating anything. His appetite had gone, if he even had an appetite this morning. He wondered how a horcrux looked. Was it like the diary? Would there be a memory in each and everyone of them? Or did the others look different? He now wished he had more information about horcruxes, aside from what Riddle and Sirius had told him. At this moment he missed Hermoine. She would have known were to look.

For the time being he had to leave them alone. This was already hard enough without him having to worry about his two best friends all the time. They wouldn't understand.

There was only one thing he could do, find out more about Horcruxes himself. He left the great hall to go to the library. Perhaps he could prepare himself for what was coming. And he had to tell Sirius later on.

When he entered the library, he was the only one there. He grabbed some books about the dark arts, and started browsing through them. Not that he expected to find anything in this ones, all the dangerous books were kept in the restricted section. Yet he didn't stop looking.

He was still there when the sun went down, without any more information, but he wasn't going to give until he had read every book about dark magic, or until it was Friday.

"Harry?" He looked up, Hermoine was standing right next to him. "Are you al right? You haven't been to class all day."

"What?" He blinked a couple of times. "Oh yeah. Been busy." He said. Her eyes drifted towards the books he was reading, the worried look in her eyes got stronger.

She sat down, without asking him anything. "I don't know what's going on, and I want to trust you, but...talk to us, please. This is really hard on the both of us."

Harry looked passed her. Ron was standing at the entrance of the library, looking uncomfortable. It was clear the red-head didn't know what to do.

"I can't talk about it, 'Moine." He said softer now.

"Are you sick? Is that why you are shutting us out?" Hermoine asked. "We can help you look for a cure. Perhaps you are looking in the wrong books." Her eyes darted towards the stacks on the table again.

"No, I'm not...How on earth did you come to that conclusion?" He shook his head. "I'm not looking in the wrong books, I'm just doing some research. Listen." He looked her straight in the eye. "I told you before there is something I must do, and I _need_ to do it _alone_. Do you understand that?"

"I understand." She said. "But Harry, we really need you back. Ron misses you terribly, we both do. Whatever it is, we could still be friends."

"No we can't, not now. When I'm ready I'll talk to you. Please me alone until then." Harry grabbed his book again en disappeared behind the cover. He could feel her eyes on him still. After a few minutes she got up and left. When she was gone, he dropped the book on the table and stared out the window. Soon.


	19. Chapter 19

_Two Chapters in one day, how awesome is that? This one wa finished before chapter 18, it just came out, i didn't even have tot hink about it! Enjoy!_

* * *

The week had passed in a blur. Harry hardly remembered any part of it. He had missed most of his classes, because he had spent so much time in the library. Hermoine still shot him worried looks, sometimes even pleading, but he did his best to ignore them.

It didn't really matter how much time he had spent in the library, it had been a waste. Sure, he had learned a lot about dark magic, but there had been nothing there about horcruxes. And with the eyes of Ron and Hermoine on him all the time, he had been to afraid to use his invisibilitycloak. He was acting suspicious enough, without sneaking out at night.

He looked at Tom and Sirius, who were both sitting in front of him. Once again they occupied the room of requirements. They had to make a plan for that evening. If he just walked out in the middle of the feast, there would be questions, questions he wasn't prepared to answer yet.

"We know you can't just walk out." Sirius said. "There are still to many eyes on you."

"Thank you for stating the obvious." Tom replied, even thought Sirius couldn't hear him. Harry rolled his eyes. The day Riddle had his body back, it would be hell to have conversations such as this one.

"I know, we need a plan." Harry answered. "Something that would excuse me from the feast, without to much suspicion."

"Why bother going at all?" The Slytherin looked at him. "I already told you before, just pretend you are sick and stay in bed."

"That's not going to work. I just know Ron will be up there every minute to check how I'm doing, even if..." He shook his head. It was to painful to talk about Ron now.

"I'm going to be glad when I can actually see him." His Godfather looked at the empty spot besides him, were Riddle was sitting. "It is weird to see you talking to someone I can't see."

"I am glad you can not. Imagine how polite I have to be to a mutt." The Slytherin heir hissed.

Again Harry rolled his eyes. This was growing tiresome. "And I'm glad you two can't actually have a conversation." Yet he added in his mind. "Now can we please focus at the problem at hand?"

"You can always pretend to get sick at the table. I'm sure the Weasley twins will lend you some help." Sirius offered.

"No, then I'll have to go to the hospitalwing. I can't get out of there so easily." He shook his head. This was going to be impossible. "Can't we do it any other night? I'm going to be missed."

"No." Riddle immediately replied. "Tonight everyone will be at the feast. Any other night, they will be in the commonroom, were you should be, it will be impossible to explain were you have went all that time."

"I'm guessing he is saying no". Sirius looked at the empty spot again, before looking at Harry. "I agree with Riddle on this one Harry. It will be harder to get out of the Gryffindor tower without raising suspicion. If anyone finds out what we are doing, we are going to have a lot of problems."

They went silent for a few minutes. Harry still thought it was going to be impossible, besides he wanted to go to the feast. He could eat and drink, and talk to his friends, just have fun. The only problem was, he had no friends, not any more. He had pushed them all away.

"You can always pretend to have a fight with Ron and Hermoine." Sirius shrugged, even though Harry knew his godfather wasn't all to happy with his own idea. "You can storm out, no suspicion there."

"I could do that, but I feel horrible enough for making them go through all of this." He sighed. He would be so happy if everything returned to normal. Hogwarts wasn't that much fun without Ron and Hermoine and all the others. Even Quidditch couldn't relax him any more. For the umpteenth time he reminded himself that this situation was only temporary.

"And again, just stay in your dormitory. It would solve all our problems. I am sure we can conjure up a suitable replacement until we are back." The Slytherin looked annoyed.

Perhaps it was not such a bad idea. He wouldn't have fun without Ron and Hermoine. A sigh passed his lips. "How are we going to conjure up this replacement of mine?"

"It is rather easy." Riddle smirked.

"Replacement?" Sirius looked puzzled. This was going to be a long day.

* * *

At seven that evening Harry was sitting on his bed, looking at his friends, who were getting ready for the feast. One by one they left, until it was just him and Ron.

"Are you coming mate?"

"No." It was always hard to lie to his best friend. "I'm not feeling well, just go on without me."

"Are you sure? Should I take you yo the hospitalwing?" Ron asked, a little bit uncomfortable.

"Just go Ron. Leave me alone."

The look in his best friend's eyes told him everything. The redhead had hoped he would come, that everything would be back like it used to be. It just wasn't that simple. He couldn't watch the disappointment in Ron's eyes, so he lay himself down on the bed, closing his eyes, pretending to go to sleep.

"Al right then." Ron muttered. "I guess we'll see you later."

The door of the dormitory closed behind Ron. Harry waited a few more minutes just to be sure no one was coming back. Then he got up. Riddle appeared out of nowhere. "The commonroom is empty." The Slytherin said. "Time to move."

"I know, just shut up will you?" Harry looked at his bed, before concentrating. The spell was hard, he had practised it in the room of requirements several times. His copy of himself was never perfect. Nor would it be this time. But it would have to do. No one would notice the difference in the dark.

"Accumulo." He whispered, concentrating on himself. A body appeared in the bed. It looked like him, but it didn't move. He draped the blankets over his doppelgänger. Then he took his invisibilitycloak from his trunk.

He threw the cloak over himself, tucked away Riddle's diary and left the dormitory.

"I still think It looks peculiar." Tom said. "You look like a walking robe to me."

"Imagine how you must look. Unlike a ghost I can't see straight through you, but in a way you are just invisible. It's hard to explain."

"Then do not try it. We are on a mission here." The Slytherin retorted.

"Says the one that comments on my odd look." Harry mummered.

They left the commonroom shortly after. The corridors were abandoned. Everyone was at the feast. Riddle and Sirius had been right, this was the best night to go. It would have been harder any other day at least if he wanted to avoid questions.

The were almost a the great hall, when they heard voices. "You are the head of Gryffindor, are you not?" Harry stopped dead in his tracks when he recognized the strident voice of the toad.

"Yes I am." It was Professor McGonagall that answered. "But if mister Potter decides he can pass his defence against the dark arts ow examination without taking any classes, who am I to stop him?"

Harry grinned. It would be more likely he passed that particular owl without the help of someone like Dorothea Umbridge, then with her help. McGonagall probably knew that he got his DADA lessons from Sirius now. Which was better for him, his class and the rest of Gryffindor house.

"If he does not show up in my next class, I will make sure he can not take his Defence against the dark arts -owl." The toad said.

"I'm afraid you can't do that, Dorothea." Somehow McGonagall sounded smug. "Only mister Potter can decide if he wants to take the owl-examination."

"We will see about that."

Someone stormed of, probably Umbridge, followed by another pair of footsteps, but these were slower. As soon as the sounds had died away, Harry continued.

"She does not like you, yet she wants you in her class." Riddle remarked.

"She wants me there because she can torment me, and give me detention." Harry replied. "If I can help it, I'll never go back to her class ever again."

He slipped of the steps and stepped into the night. When the left the grounds, they were greeted by Sirius, who was still in his dog form. His Godfather let them back up the hill, that watched over Hogsmead.

"So were exactly is this cave?" Sirius asked, as soon as he had changed back to his humanform.

"Withstable, or close to it anyway." The Slytherin said.

"Whitstable." Harry repeated.

Sirius nodded. "I believe I know where that is. Come Harry, we'll apparate."

Harry looked at Riddle, who disappeared, before grabbing Sirius his arm. He knew this was going to be the easiest part of the journey. What came after this, would be a whole lot harder. Voldemort was not going to leave his horcruxes unprotected. Harry feared for the worst, like always on Halloween.

Apparation was the worst means of transportation yet. It was horrible. It felt like being stuffed inside a to small tube, and pressed through it, until you came out on the other side. At least it was fast. Before he knew it, they stood at the edge of a cliff.

The sea lay below them. Waves crashed into the cliff, taking small pieces of rock with them back to the ocean.

"Riddle." Harry said, still a bit nauseated from the trip. The Slytherin appeared besides him once more.

"The cave is down there. You can apparate in front of it, if you want. I do not know what kind of protections lay in it."

Harry nodded and looked down over the cliff. It was a high fall. Sirius grabbed his wrist when he leaned over a little bit more. "I think I can see it." Harry said, grabbing Sirius his sleeve. "Riddle says we can apparate. I rather wish I had my broom with me."

His Godfather laughed. "Yes that would be the appropriate way to approach a high and razor sharp cliff with wind gusts as strong as these."

"It would certainly be more enjoyable then apparating down there." Harry muttered. He grabbed his Godfather's arm once more, after which they disapparated from the cliff, and apparated in front of the cave.

Harry looked at the the entrance. It was closed. Perhaps it had been open many years ago, when Riddle came here, but right now there was no way to get in. Ofcourse he did not know that Voldemort had created this entrance, because otherwise there would be no other way in then apparation, which became impossible due to the wards. He grabbed his wand, ready to throw a 'bombarda' at the rocks, but Sirius grabbed his hand.

"Don't. I doubt it will do any good, if it does anything at all." Sirius let him go again, after which he let his hand go over the entrance.

"It requires a sacrifice." Harry jumped in the air when he heard Riddle's voice behind him. For a moment he had forgotten all about the Slytherin heir.

"A sacrifice?" He asked.

"Yes, probably blood. I seem like something I would do. Weaken thy opponent." The Slytherin came closer, looking at the stone wall as well.

"So we don't have to kill ourselves?" He asked.

"Come now Harry, it is hard to play with someone once there dead." Something about the gleam in Riddle's ayes and the way the Slytherin had said it, gave him the creeps. A shiver ran down his spine.

"It would be really nice if you two would include me in your conversations." Sirius added dryly. "It's rather gruesome to hear my godson talk about killing and sacrifices, without actually knowing the full context."

"It's still gruesome if you know the full context." Harry answered. "Apparently the door only opens if a blood sacrifice is paid."

"In that case there is only one thing left to do." Before Harry could stop him, or say anything. Sirius had pulled a pocketknife from under his robes and and made a cut in his arm. Blood dripped of the knife and down the pale arm of his Godfather.

"Are you insane?" Harry asked, taken aback by the sight of his Father's best friend cutting into his own flesh.

"People do tend to say I am." Sirius Simply replied, before smearing the blood on the door. It opened. "My life is worth less then yours Harry. I can spare some blood, you can't."

"Your life is worth as much as mine." He protested.

"Perhaps, but unlike you I've been eating properly." Before Harry could protest any more, Sirius went inside, binding his arm with a piece of his robe.

"He is right." Riddle said, following Sirius into the cave.

"Don't even start Riddle." He muttered some more under his breath, while following his two companions. The cave was dark and humid. Harry took his wand from underneath his robe.

"Lumos." He whispered. Immediately light filled the cave. Not far from them was a lake. And it was huge. He could not see the other side of it. "Where's the horcrux."

"In the middle of the lake is an island. If it is here, it will be there." Riddle said. "But I am certain now it is here. Otherwise there would not be an entrance which requires a blood-sacrifice."

Sirius had already continued. The man was looking into the water, searching for something, anything. Harry came closer, looking at the steel chain his Godfather held in his hands. They both looked at the chain, trying to figure out what they had to do with it.

"I think I figured out why your name is 'Riddle'." He looked up at the Slytherin, who was looking at the both of them. "Well, you don't leave instruction, now do you?"

"It is not that hard, if you two would just open your eyes and think clearly." The Slytherin said with an arrogant tone of voice. "I expected better from a Black and from the one that bested the Dark Lord more then once."

"There's a lake, so there must be a boat." Sirius said, unable to listen to the full conversation, and thus decided that it was not worth trying.

"Ah, so the mutt does have some brains."

"Shut it Riddle." Harry said, looking back at Sirius, who grabbed his wand and tapped on the chain. Only moments later a boat appeared before them.

Harry felt bad. Up until now Sirius had been doing all the work. Without his godfather he would still be standing at the entrance discussing the gruesomeness of a blood-sacrifices with Riddle. The Slytherin should be thanking him for bringing Sirius into this, otherwise it have gone wrong at the beginning. Travelling to the other side of Britain with a broom, was not something he had wanted to do.

"Come Harry." Sirius was already sitting in the boat. Harry quickly got in as well, just in time, because the boat started to move.

Harry looked at the water. There was no movement in the water, not even the little waves a boat normally made when it travelled over the water. It was like the boat wasn't touching the water at all. This must be some kind of magic.

"Don't touch the water." Sirius said Softly.

He hadn't been planning on touching it. The horrible feeling he had been having all night, returned again. It got worse when he heard a soft splash. There was something in the water, something that was at least as big as he was.

Nothing happened during the boat-ride, yet it was the most creepy experience he had ever had. Even Riddle had been quiet during the ride. No remarks, no veiled insults, not a word.

The boat stopped at what had to be the island. It was just a big rock in the water, in a few paces he could be on the other side. In the middle of the island, there was some kind of altar with a bowl on top of it. Sirius was the first one to get out of the boat, shortly followed by Harry.

When Harry heard another splash, but this time closer, he looked around. He tilted his head. "What is that?" He asked. He pointed towards what appeared to be some sort of statue. Slowly he walked closer.

"Be careful!" Riddle and Sirius said in unison.

He liked his lips, getting closer one step at a time. The light of his wand reached the surface of the statue. It was a young man, holding a wand in one hand, while holding on to the uneven surface of the island with the other. Creatures had their hand and arms wrapped around his torso and legs. They looked like they were trying to drag him down into the water, seeing how one foot of the young man was already in the water.

"Harry, what is it?"

He looked back, towards Riddle and Sirius, who were still standing on the same spot. "It's some kind of statue."

"Why would there be a statue here?" Riddle asked, coming closer. The Slytherin had nothing to fear, seeing how he was still a memory, but apparently he hadn't been all the interested until now.

"I don't know, it's your bloody island." Harry bit back. How would he know why there was some strange statue at the edge of the island. He had never been here before, and he knew nothing about this place or the protections that lay around the horcrux.

Sirius stopped next to him. While Harry looked at him, he could see the pale face of his godfather go even whiter. In the glow of his wand the man looked like a ghost.

"What's wrong Sirius?" He asked.

"That's my brother."


	20. Chapter 20

I know, i know, Regulus is supposed to be dead, but I just love him so much, and he has so much potential! And I just realised how much of a jerk Sirius actually is. Oh well, please enjoy!

* * *

"Your brother?" Harry looked at the statue once more. Now that Sirius had said it, he saw the resemblance between the two of them. "Why would there be a statue of your brother in here?"

"Because that is not statue." It was Riddle who answered. "That is his actual brother."

"But...How is that even possible." He looked at Sirius now, who crouched before the statue of his brother and touch the hand, that was holding the wand. The youngest Black had disappeared years ago, even he knew that much. Sirius had told him that Regulus was killed by deatheater, because he wanted out.

"I thought he was dead." Sirius whispered. "All those years, I thought he had been killed on orders of Voldemort."

"Very strong magic." Again the Slytherin was the one to answer his question. Harry looked at Riddle, who was looking from the statue, towards the bowl on the altar and back again. He could see how the brilliant mind of Tom Riddle was working. It was fascinating. Those dark eyes absorbed everything, every little detail. The Slytherin saw things, he didn't see.

The silence was broken when Sirius got up on his feet again and drew his wand, aiming at his brother.

"Harry please tell your godfather that he should not do that." Riddle said, looking annoyed at Siriu.

"Uhm Sirius." He began. "Riddle says you shouldn't do that."

"Why not?" Sirius looked up for a moment. "He has been in there long enough. It's time to set him free."

"You do realise what is going to happen, do you not Harry."

He realised that he was the only weapon the Slytherin had to stop Sirius from reviving his brother, or regenerate him, or what ever that was going to happen. He was the only means of communication between the Slytherin Heir and the Black Heir. They weren't the two easiest people to convince. He was never able to convince Sirius not to do something, like coming back to England, while there was a price on his godfather's head. Riddle was even worse.

"Not really." he answered honestly, tracing his hand through his wild hair.

"Those creatures grabbing Black, are inferi." When Harry didn't respond immediately, Riddle continued. "They are revived corpses, that do the bidding of a dark wizard. I believe they act as a guard for the horcrux. If your godfather liberates his brother, he will liberate the inferi, who will then drag the young Black down with them, resulting in his dead and probably yours as well. They are very difficult to stop."

"Sirius, he's right I wouldn't do that if I were you." He looked at his godfather, but the man seemed unyielding in his decision. There was desperation in Sirius his eyes. "I know he's your brother, but the infe..."

"So what? I should just leave him there?" The man aimed his wand at the statue. "He has been here long enough. Eighteen years...it has been eighteen years since he has disappeared."

He understood, more then Sirius probably thought he would. If he had the chance to bring his parents back from the death after all those years, he would do it to, no matter what the cost was. But this was different, wasn't it? Regulus wasn't dead, he was petrified, or something similar. They could cancel the magic and take him home, assuming the inferi didn't drag them down as well. His parents were dead, their bodies buried. They had been killed, not cursed.

"Sirius, listen to me." He said, grabbing his godfather's wrist. If this would calm Sirius down and make him Happy, Harry would give it to him, if it was in his power to give. "We won't leave him, I promise. But first we need to get the horcrux and find a way to save him, without letting him drown several seconds later."

Slowly Sirius seemed to realise in what sort of situation they were. The man lowered his wand, before looking at his brother again. "I will not leave without him Harry."

"I thought you didn't like him?" Harry raised an eyebrow.

"I don't, he was -is- a slimy little idiot, but he is still my brother." Sirius said. "And it seemed like he has seen the light, a little bit to late, but nonetheless he deserves a second chance."

Harry smiled slightly. That was very noble of his godfather, worthy of a Gryffindor. Sometimes he saw more of a Slytherin in Sirius, then the lion he was. He was now determined to save Regulus from his eighteen year old prison and take the horcrux back home.

He walked towards the bowl. The horcrux had to be in there. He looked into the bowl, and indeed there at the bottom was a locket. That had to be the horcrux. He tried to grab it, but the liquid in the bowl acted like some kind of wall. "I can't reach it."

"It would be a little be to easy that way, now would it not?" Riddle looked into the bowl. "Someone has to drink that. I bet it is yet another potion to weaken you. And I am willing to risk my life on this, you will become very thirsty if you drink this potion."

"How do you know that?" Harry tried not to look amazed.

"Really Harry, sometimes I think yo do not even try." Riddle reached for the locket. His fingers went straight through the liquid and through the locket. "Why else would young Black touch the water, thus waking the inferi?"

His green eyes widened. That was fairly logical. It was hard to admit, but perhaps Riddle was right. One day he would be on his own. There would be no smart girl, like Hermoine, to solve the mysteries of his very complicated life, there would be no powerful and cunning wizard, like Riddle, telling him what he needed or couldn't do. Perhaps one day he could even wipe the arrogant smirk of the Slytherin's face.

He looked towards Sirius, who was still standing in front of his brother. "My turn." He said softly, before licking his lips. Sirius had done enough. The man had offered his blood and found the boat. Now it was his turn to prove his worth, even if it was by drinking a potion such as this one. Ho conjured a cup and filled it with the potion, feeling slightly nervous now.

"I do not think that is a good idea, Harry. You do not know what else might happen." Riddle looked slightly concerned, but also fascinated, like he was struggling inside. Harry could imagine Riddle as a scientist, performing all kinds of experiments, to determine how certain people reacted to certain things, like this potion for an instance.

"I don't care. Sirius is the strongest one here, like he pointed out earlier. I have to do this." For a moment Harry looked at the cup filled with potion, before drinking it. At first nothing happened, but that images appeared before his eyes, something had spread through his body. Before he know it, he was lying on the ground, screaming.

It was like fire, dancing through his body, burning his body from the inside out. He understood now why Regulus wanted to get to the water. It would kill the fire, that was consuming his entire body.

"Make the pain stop! Please!" He yelled, not even hearing his own words.

* * *

What had happened? He needed to know. Was it possible that his brother knew about the horcuxes and had attempted to destroy them? Or was the boy here by coincidence? Perhaps Voldemort had ordered him to come here, to see if his defences worked. That was a possibility as well.

Sirius had so many questions, yet no way of knowing the answers. Not yet at least. If he could free his brother, which he would, the young man could tell him everything.

But first things first. They had to get the horcrux, Riddle's horcrux, Voldemort's horcrux. He shivered.

He looked up when he heard a scream. His godson was lying on the floor, screaming and shaking.

"Make the pain stop! Please!"

In a matter of seconds he sat besides Harry, grabbing the boy. "Harry? What's wrong? Look at me." But the boy did not look at him, he looked passed him, at something or someone else. "Riddle! What have you done to him?!"

He knew ofcourse that he could not hear the memory, but he wa so worried, so angry, that he had to yell at someone. Riddle had been the perfect choice. His eyes focused on the boy in his arms again. Harry had become quiet, looking at him. "Sirius, the potion. I have to drink it."

"The potion? That's what has done this to you?" He shook his head. "No Harry, not if it's causing you this much pain."

"Sirius please. I promised Tom." The boy's voice sounded weak and hoarse. "Don't make me break my promise."

He looked at Harry a few moments longer, before nodding. He hated this, every part of it, but if his godson asked it like that, who was he to refuse? There was always the possibility of him drinking the potion. But Harry would never allow that. He looked at the bowl.

"Don't." Harry said, as if the boy could read his mind. "I started this, I will finish it."

Once again Sirius realised how much the boy looked and acted like his father, a true Gryffindor. He nodded once more, before getting up and helping Harry to sit against the altar. He filled another cup, giving it to Harry. The boy drank it completely.

Sirius tried to ignore the screams of pain and the pleading of his godson, while he filled yet another cup. He almost dropped the third cup, when someone appeared before him, seemingly out of the blue.

A young man, no older then sixteen or seventeen. He was quit handsome, and he was wearing a Slytherin uniform. There was only one possibility, still he had to ask. "Are you Tom Riddle?"

"You can see me now? Curious." The young man answered, he sounded way to polite.

"Yes I can." He stared at the younger version of Voldemort, lost in the moment, forgetting the situation they were in. "What has changed? Why can I see you? Is it because of the proximity of your soul-piece?"

"I do not think so." Riddle answered. "But could we focus at the problem at hand." The young man gestured towards Harry and the almost empty bowl.

Sirius looked at his godson, filling the last cup."Please no." The boy said. "No more. It hurts." Tears were streaming down Harry's cheeks.

"One more Harry. Just one." He said to his godson, before giving him the last cup. The boy drank it, the pain in his eyes became clearer. Harry's body was shaking, he looked pale and miserable. Sirius felt more guilty then ever. How could he let his godson go through this? Al because of some stupid diary, and the Dark Lord inside it, possessing it. "It's al right." He said softly. "I'm here. The pain is going to stop."

"Water." Harry said softly, his voice to frail to usher more then one word.

"Do not touch that water." Riddle said to him "I doubt you will be able to conjure it. Take Harry to the boat. He can survive a few more minutes without water."

"He is in pain!" Sirius yelled. "Can't you see that? I won't let my godson suffer, because of you!"

"Do you want him killed then?" Riddle asked. "If you disturb the water, you will do just that. Besides, you have let him suffer for the past fo..."

Sirius looked at the spot where young Voldemort had just stood. Riddle was gone again. What had just happened?

"I don't know if you are still talking, but I can't hear you." This was odd, talking to someone he couldn't see, or hear. Yet he realised Riddle was probably right. Disturbing the water, would not be such a good idea. Besides he had a brother to rescue as well.

He lifted Harry in his arms en walked towards the boat, laying the boy down in it. "Don't touch the water." He said. "Do you understand me Harry? I will give you water once we are out of here." The boy nodded, but Sirius wasn't entirely sure that his words reached his godson. "Riddle, make sure he doesn't touch the water."

He only hoped that the young Dark Lord had heard him. Harry was weakened, so perhaps was Riddle. Yet he had no time to linger on that thought. He had to get Harry out of here and save is brother. For the second time that evening, he crouched besides the frozen image of his brother. He had to act quick, in order to save his brother.

"Al right Reggie." He said softly. "I know you can't hear me, but I'm going to save you. I'm going to release you from this curse." He grabbed Regulus his arm, the one with the wand. Then he closed his eyes, for just a moment, before casting the spell. A white light filled the cave. Something started to crumble of his brother's skin, like plaster.

"Sirius?" Came the soft voice when all the plaster had fallen of Regulus his face. But Sirius did not have the time to answer. With his brothers release, he released the inferi as well. They started to pull Regulus down again, into the vast lake. He pulled on his brothers arm.

Apparently it was then that the youngest Black realised what was going on. The young man started kicking with his feet, in order to get the inferi of his legs. Sirius used his wand to burn the inferi, holding Regulus his middle. The creature let go immediately.

The water was disturbed when the creatures managed to pull one of Regulus his legs complete in the lake. The young man used his free leg to kick the inferi away. "Sirius, leave me! They're going to kill us both."

"Are you mad? I won't leave you!" He realised he had to do something fast, otherwise they would both be doomed. Other inferi crept out of the lake, towards the both of them. Sirius thanked Merlin that Harry was save in the boat.

"Behind you!" His younger brother yelled, only a little bit to late. Another inferi grabbed Sirius his wandarm, dragging him in as well. With a bit of effort he yanked his arm free again, knocking the creature back in the process. In the meanwhile the other inferi had managed to drag Regulus in the water up to his middle.

"Incendio!" Sirius looked up when he heard the hoarse voice of his godson, yelling the spells as hard as he could. Fire appeared around them, on the island, killing the inferi, giving them burnmarks. But everything was better then drowning in a lake full of those creatures.

He pulled his brother free from the grasp of the inferi, helping him up. "We need to get to the boat." He said, dragging his brother with hem. The young man was barely able to stand on his feet, weakened by the use of magic, so many years ago, and by the curse. They were almost at the boat, when he saw Harry fall. With a hard splash the boy landed in the water.

"Harry!" Sirius took a better hold on Regulus, dragging him faster, almost throwing him into the boat, before diving into the cold dark water.

It was hard to see underneath the water and the light at the end of his wand, was not enough to cut through the infinite darkness. He swam faster, looking for his godson. A couple of feet below him, he saw fire, just for a second, but enough to give him an indication of Harry's position. With a direction in mind, he started swimming again, before long he reached his Godson, who was fighting of a couple of inferi with the last strength and breath he had.

Apparently the water had woken the boy, given him new strength, strength that the potion had taken away, and yet his godson was losing. He grabbed the boys hand, pulling him up, against his own body. He aimed his wand at the inferi, using the fire-making spell as well. The creatures burned, but not for long, due to the he mass of water around them, the fire wasn't able to stay lit en burn the corpses completely, thus killing the infei.

Sirius ignored them, knowing all to well that burned corpses didn't swim as fast as he Harry pressed to his chest, he swam up again. He was not losing the boy or his brother, not today, not because of some psychopath.

They reached the surface, with the inferi at their tail. Sirius dragged Harry back on the island, climbing on as well. The boy had gone unconscious, but for the second time that evening, he had no time to take care of the people he loved. He heaved the boy back into his arms, laying him down in the boat, next to his brother, who looked paler then ever. But when he wanted to climb in himself, something was preventing him.

Another form of magic, something to defend the horcrux. He looked at Regulus. There had only been two of them on the boat-ride to the island, on of them under-aged. Now they were with three, two wizards of age. "Reggie. Send the boat back, when you get there."

The young wizard nodded, looking half dead and at the end of his strength. Sirius tabbed the side of the boat, after which it sailed of. Then he ran back towards the bowl, grabbing the horcrux. He was not leaving that infernal thing here, not after they had suffered so much to get it. He turned around again, looking at the black lake. The inferi that had followed him and Harry up, were now climbing out of the water as well, coming straight for him. He aimed his wand, until the boat got back, he had to defend himself.

"Incendio." He said. It was easier to cast a stronger spell, because he didn't have to worry about Regulus and Harry any more. De fire spread from his wand, burning the creatures. The whole island went up in flames, except the part were he stood.

It took a while for the fire to die down, but when it did, Sirius could see the remains of the inferi. A sigh of relief escaped his lips. He looked at the horcrux. A locket, with a serpentine 'S' engraved into it. He had seen this before. The question was where. The time for answers was later. The boat was back. He had to go to Harry and Regulus, see if they were both al right. He hung the locket around his neck, stepping inside the boat.

The road back to shore seemed infinitely shorter than the trip to the island. He practically jumped out when he saw the still bodies of his brother and godson. He checked Regulus, who was the closest to the boat, first. The young man was unconscious, but still breathing. Then he walked over to Harry. His godson however was not breathing.

"Come on Harry." He said softly, grabbing his wand once again. With magic he pushed the water out of the boy's lungs, trying to get Harry to breath again."Don't die on me." His voice even softer now.

Only a moment later Harry started to couch, water spilled over his lips, followed by small intakes of air. Sirius closed his eyes, relieved. Now he still needed to get the both of them out of here. He got up on his feet again. "Expecto patronum." He said calmly. A white shape of a giant dog appeared. "Remus Lupin." He said to it. "Tell him: Whitstable at the cliffs." The patronus ran of, disappearing into the darkness.

"Regulus." He kneeled at his brother's side, placing a hand on the young man's head. "Can you hear me?" Regulus his eyes opened slowly. "Can you stand?" They had to get out of the cave, otherwise Remus would be unable to find them.

"I...don't know." His brother answered.

"Let's try it anyway." He helped his brother up for the second time that night. He supported the young man, while walking over to the unconscious body of his godson. "Stand still, just for a second."

For the third time that night Harry was back in his arms, close to his chest. Then he supported Regulus again. Slowly they walked away from the lake, back towards the entrance. His brothers legs buckled more then once, but somehow the young man kept on going, without actually falling.

When they got outside, Remus was already waiting for them. "I followed your patronus here. What happened." The werewolf came closer. "What happened to Harry?"

Sirius had never been so happy to see his best friend. "He"s going to be fine, help my brother will you, we need to get out of here."

"Help your..." The eyes of the werewolf darted towards Regulus, before widening. "Regulus? That's not possible. He died."

"But we never found a body." Sirius answered. "Now please Remus, help him."

His old friend took over the support of Regulus, giving Sirius the chance to tighten his grip on his godson, whose breathing was still shallow.

"Whereto?" Remus asked.

"Gr...No, Regulus can't get in there without Dumbledore's instructions." Sirius was torn. They could not go back to Hogwarts. If Dumbledore saw Harry in this condition and Regulus still alive, questions would rise.

"My place?" The werewolf offered.

"Yes, thank you." They disapparated, taking both Harry and Regulus with them.


	21. Chapter 21

I'm going to Italy in a couple of hours, so I wanted to post one more chapter. I promise more Tom-Harry action next chapter, but this was sort of important. Well enjoy, see you when I get back!

* * *

Tom looked at Harry, who was lying in the boat, his body was shaking, his face pale.. The boy was in pain, he could feel this. And he could feel the fear, which was slowly going away. Those intense feelings were exactly what gave him a visible form, however short it might have been.

He had already known this. The day he got out of the diary was when he first noticed it, when Harry's feelings were particularly strong, he got more power. Their connection was getting stronger ever since Harry opened the diary, but that one promise made sure he got enough strength from the boy's feelings for him to escape. Today Harry gave him his trust, and the promise to go on no matter what, probably without realising it. Those strong feelings and the feeling that the potion had given him, made sure that the mutt could see him, as long as the feelings were present.

"Water." The Gryffindor said.

"You will have to wait." He replied, setting himself down at the edge of the boat. "Your godfather will be here in a minute."

He looked at the mutt and his younger brother. The magic was crumbling, releasing the young Black and the inferi. He watched how the two brothers struggled for a while. They were losing the fight, even more of those vile creatures were coming at them.

He soon realised that Harry was unable to leave without help. He needed the mutt, or the younger Black, if he wanted to get out of here, preferably with only the younger Black, and his horcrux obviously.

"Harry." He looked at the boy. "Listen carefully. Your godfather is in danger. There is one way to destroy the inferi. Fire. You have to conjure it. Can you do that?"

The boy looked at him, blinking with his eyes. "I think so." Tom did not know where the boy kept getting his strength from. He had to admit it was amazing. The Gryffindor got on his feet, the boat rocked a little, but stabilised again.

"Incendio!" Harry yelled, with the last of his power. That was where everything went wrong. Tom saw the fire, how it consumed the inferi. And then the boat rocked again. He looked back, just in time to see his companion fall over board. He was pulled down with Harry, into the depths of the lake.

Unlike Harry he did not need air, he did not feel the pressure of the water and the inferi, waiting in the vast darkness, were no danger to him. He tried to grab Harry's wrist, but his hand went right through it. He closed his eyes, when fire appeared right in front of him. But the light of the fire disappeared to quickly. "Fight!" He yelled, not wanting to see his only hope die so deep under the water and so far away from their goal.

A hand reached right through him, but before he saw who's hand it was, everything went dark.

"Harry?" Darkness had returned to him. There was no sound, no light, no voices. He was alone again. Somehow he knew he went back to the diary, locked up in a little book, like he had been for the past fifty-somewhat years.

"Harry?" He walked around in the never ending darkness. "Do not ignore me!" He yelled. "We had a deal, you and I, you promised me!"

But Tom knew there was no use. The boy's present in his mind was fading away quickly. He knew what this meant. Harry was dying. His last chance to become alive again, taken away by water and darkness.

Tom could not feel anything, there were no emotions. He could not hear anything, no words, no whispers, nothing. And it terrified him. Before all this had happened, he was used to the loneliness, the darkness. But now he did not want it. He wanted Harry back, he wanted to talk to the boy, tell him they had succeeded in finding the first horcrux. He wanted to fight with Harry, to best him in every single conversation and see the boy abilities grew. One day, he knew this, Harry would be his complete equal, one unique soul, that could match his. He wanted to see that, be proud of his creation.

"May God damn you Black!" He screamed to the never ending darkness, realising no one could here him. "You and your stupid brother! If he dies, I swear I will find a way to kill you! Both of you!"

Hi own voice echoed in the darkness. The only indication he had now, was the soft throbbing in the back of his mind, the final presence of Harry in his own head.

* * *

"Lay him down on the couch." Remus said to Sirius. He did as he was told, gently laying Harry on the couch. The boy's breathing was so shallow, it worried him.

"Is he going to be al right?" He asked softly, stroking the boy's wet hair out of his face.

"I don't know Sirius. Let me look at him." The werewolf grabbed his wand and traced it over the boy's body. "There is still some water in his lungs. We have to get it out."

He could not believe this was happening. Harry was supposed to be at school, having fun with his friends, not lying here, half dead, with water in his lungs.

Remus positioned himself over the boy. While mumbling a spell, he waved his wand over Harry's upper body, pushing the water out. Sirius looked at his godson, couching up water, turning to his side once more. After that the boy's breathing got deeper.

"Get him out of those wet clothes, otherwise he might still die of hypothermia." Remus said, while disappearing into the bathroom. Sirius looked at Harry again, before gently taking the boy's robe of. Something fell out of its pocket, onto the ground. For a moment he looked at it. Tom Riddle's diary.

His eyes darted towards the bathroom, shifting over Regulus his unconscious form in on of the chairs near the fireplace. He could simply take it, be done with it. He licked his lips, before grabbing the little black book and tugging it away underneath his own robes. At least for the time being, Harry needed to be rid of it, until the boy was strong enough again.

Remus came back with some towels and a blanket. "Light the fireplace, Sirius." The werewolf said. Again he did what he was told, levitating some wood into the small fireplace and lighting it with another 'incendio'. The warmth spread through the room. It was then that Sirius realised how cold he was himself, but that was something he could worry about later.

He looked at Remus, who was covering his godson in towels and the blanket. "What were you doing there anyway?" The man asked softly, placing a pillow underneath Harry's head.

"That's not up to me to tell you." Sirius answered, setting himself down at the head of the couch, placing Harry's head on his lap. He stroked the boy's hair. "He is going to be al right now, isn't he?"

"He's going to be fine. All he needs is some rest." Remus got up and looked at him. "Can you at least tell me how your dead brother is still alive?"

"Harry needs to be back in his bed by morning." He said. Otherwise there would be questions. Dumbledore would ask him, and Remus, why the boy was with them and what had happened to him. His eyes rested on his brother. The soft light of the flames, made Regulus his face look hallow and to pale. "I don't know." He whispered. "He was there, but he shouldn't have been. I had been certain he was dead."

"Well, he's alive. Weak, but alive." The werewolf placed a blanket over Regulus as well. "'I'm going to make some tea."

Sirius looked at his little brother. No day had passed for Regulus, he still looked the same. Young and fragile, like he always had. And their parents had taken advantage of that weakness, made the young man into a brainwashed idiot.

When they were little, Regulus had followed him everywhere, they were inseparable. His brother listened to everything he said, played with him and asked him things. The year he went to Hogwarts, everything had changed. Without him, Regulus had turned towards their parents, he had no influence on the boy any more. The perfect son, that's what they called him. He had almost begged his brother to choose Gryffindor, but the little idiot did what his parents asked, he got sorted into Slytherin. He had barely spoken to Regulus since that day. When the young man had disappeared, he had told everyone what an idiot Regulus had been, choosing the wrong side and getting himself killed. He never expected to find him in a cave at the shore, where one of Voldemort's soul-pieces was hidden.

"Sirius, are you okay?" Remus had placed a cup of tea in front of him, on the small table.

"I just don't understand it. He should be dead." He said softly.

"Or at least eighteen years older. He looks exactly the same like last time we saw him." The werewolf sat himself down on the only available chair left.

"When Harry found him, he was trapped inside a magical cocoon. He had cursed himself, to prevent himself from dying." Sirius was still stroking Harry's wet hair.

"Eighteen years have passed, without him knowing anything that happened. We are going to have a lot of explaining to do when he wakes up." Remus sipped his tea.

"First he can tell us what in Merlin's name he was doing down there." Was it a coincidence? Was Regulus aware of the existence of Voldemort's Horcruxes? And did he just fail the obtain one and destroy it? He had a lot of questions.

"Like you should explain to me what you and Harry were doing down there?" Remus asked, looking straight at him now.

"It's not up to me to tell you. If you want to know, ask Harry." Sirius answered. "But not tonight. I'm brining him back to Hogwarts, to sleep this of in his bed. Will you please watch my brother until he wakes up?"

"Ofcourse I will." Remus got up again. "Just make sure Harry gets safely back to school."

"I will." He got up as well, heaving Harry in his arms yet again.

* * *

Tom paced through the darkness. He could still feel Harry in the back of his mind, stronger then before, but not quit as strong as it used to be. It was frustrating that he couldn't get out of the diary and see him. He knew Harry was asleep, or unconscious, and it would be a while before the boy woke up again. But that didn't make the wait any less nerve-wrecking.

So yes, he was surprised when the darkness became grey, which was a clear sign of someone opening the diary.

"Harry?" Was the first thing he asked. Perhaps the boy was still weak, but awake. After all the events in the cave had left the Gryffindor powerless and weak, just like those protections were meant to do.

_Hello Riddle._

Those words were written. If this was harry, the boy knew they could communicate through speech, even if the boy was still feeling faint. Not only that, there were no feelings present. Harry's feelings were never completely shielded from him.

"Black." He stated. How dare the filthy mutt touch his diary! "This book does not belong to you."

_Neither does Harry to you._

"You are mistaken." He said, the words appearing on the paper of his diary. "Due to his promises he does belong to me, as much as I, and this diary for that matter, belong to him."

_He almost died because of you. You are undeserving of him._

He rolled his eyes. It was time to put this mutt in his place. "He almost died, because you wanted to save your brother. If you just left him there, Harry would have been fine."

_Harry would have been able to handle it! If you didn't make him drink that potion!_

"I did not make Harry do anything. He did it all on his own." He had even told Harry that it was a bad idea, but the boy hadn't listened. On the other hand, the Gryffindor had promised him to do everything in his power to find and obtain the horcruxes. So there was really nothing he, or the mutt could have done about it. "I know perfectly well what he can and can not handle. Drinking such a potion and then fighting of inferi...he can not. You are to one that put him in more danger then was necessary."

_If it wasn't for you and your manipulative words, Harry would never have gone near that place._

"True enough, but then again I never claimed I would not put Harry in danger in order to get whatever I want. Unlike some." He replied, smirking slightly.

_I would never put Harry in danger on purpose!_

"Oh no? So you were not going to sacrifice the live of your best friend's son, in order to save your brother? Or do you think Harry is James Potter reborn? I am sure your best friends would have been able to handle it, even though he is dead, and that all because of you."

The Black heir went quiet, but the diary didn't close. Tom couldn't help himself, he smirked. It was always fun to break someone into tiny little pieces. "Or perhaps it is all about saving someone. You killed your godson's parents, so you decided to save someone else, just to make up for that. Letting Harry die in the process is all fine, because he can go to his parent, were he belongs. And you can be proud, because you have saved someone and reunited a family."

_I didn't kill his parents, you did._

"Impossible, I have not left this diary in more then fifty years, up until recently that is." He would break Black, make sure the mutt never intervened between him and Harry again. He had to be honest Black had his uses, like being a sacrificial lamb, and solving riddles, when Harry was reluctant to do so. But stealing the diary was unacceptable.

_I will destroy you, and your horcruxes._

"Tell that to your godson." He felt anger rising in his chest, but it wasn't his. "Speaking of which, now is your chance."

* * *

The sun shone through the curtains, waking Harry up. He looked around. It took a few minutes before he realised where he was. Gryffindor tower, boy's dormitory. How did he get here? Last thing he remembered was falling into the ice cold water and battling the inferi.

He placed a hand upon his chest. He had difficulties breathing, every breath hurt, as did his throat. He breathed deeply, before couching. That even hurt him more.

"Harry?" He looked up. The red-head was standing at the door. "Are you al right mate, you look like hell."

"I'm fine." He answered. "My throat is a little bit dry, that's all."

It was impossible to tell Ron what happened, not now he and Riddle were so close. They had the first horcrux! Soon it would be impossible to lie, if Riddle got his body back, everyone would be able to see him. But that time was not yet upon them.

"I thought something had happened. Snuffles was on your bed this morning." The red-head looked uncomfortable. "Dean and Neville asked me all kinds of questions about him."

"Sirius was here?" He spoke his godfather's name, without thinking about it. He jumped out of bed, grabbing his robes, that were draped over a chair. After searching every pocket, he realised the diary was gone. That explained the lack of annoying comments about hi sleeping habits and his hair. "He has taken it!"

"Who has taken what?" Ron seemed puzzled, but Harry ignored him. He dressed quickly, grabbing his glasses and his wand from the night-stand.

"I've got to go." He said to Ron, before leaving the red-head alone in the boy's dormitory. He ran down the stairs, crossed the commonroom and went out of the portraithole before anyone could stop him.

Why did Sirius take the diary? He couldn't believe his godfather did that! Or perhaps he had lost it when he was drowning in that lake. Anyhow he had to find Sirius and talk to him. He couldn't help it, he felt angry, betrayed. After all he had heard Riddle, until he lost his consciousness, which happened when Sirius dragged him on the island. He remembered small parts of it now. He vaguely remembered seeing Remus his face to.

He stopped halfway. Perhaps he was overreacting. Barging in there and accusing the only person, who could actually help him of theft, was not such a good idea. Still the anger did not leave his body.

Moments later he entered the room of requirements. Sirius was sitting at a desk, looking at him. Behind him lay the diary open, with a quill and ink next to it.

"I hoped you... How could you Sirius? I thought you trusted me?" He had to use every ounce of strength he had left just to keep his voice normal.

"I do." Sirius simply replied. "It's him I don't trust. I wanted to speak with him directly."

"You stole the diary, while I was unconscious!" The anger and pain of betrayal were slowly coming to the surface. He was to tired to do this. "Did you ever consider asking me for it?"

"I took advantage of the situation, I don't deny that. But tell me Harry, would you have given the diary if I asked you for it?" Sirius looked straight at him.

Would he? Harry would have loved to just yell 'yes', but he knew it wouldn't be true. He trusted no one with Riddle's diary. Sirius could easily have taken it to Dumbledore, thus ensuring the destruction of the Slytherin heir. But his godfather didn't. He just talked to Riddle, or that was what Harry assumed. Yet the answer would still be 'no'. "Bloody Slytherin." He muttered, even though he knew Sirius had been in Gryffindor.

"I'll take that as a no." His godfather replied. "And may I remind you that I'm as much of a Slytherin as you are."

"You may, but then I will have to inform you the sorting hat almost placed me in Slytherin." Harry grinned at his godfather, who stared at him, disbelief in his grey eyes.

"You're kidding right?" The man asked.

"No actually I'm not. But I know it's not something to be ashamed of." In his first year he had been afraid to tell anyone. In his second he didn't want to believe it. But now he realised Slytherin wasn't all bad. Sure it had produced a fair amount of dark wizards, but so had Gryffindor or the other two houses for that matter. Besides it were his choices that made him different.

"Can I have the diary back now?" Harry asked. "And the horcrux...Please tell me you took it."

Sirius looked at the diary for a moment, before closing it en handing it back to Harry. "Please be careful Harry. I know I always encourage you to be a little bit more adventurous, but this is something else, it's dangerous."

Harry raised an eyebrow, while taking the diary. "Says the man that hung out with a werewolf during the full moon." Sirius laughed at that.

He sat down in one of the chairs, tugging the diary inside one of his pockets. "You have to promise me one thing Sirius." He said.

"Anything." The man answered, serious again now.

"Never steal the diary again. If I need you, if something is about to go wrong, I will tell you, but keep your hands of m...this diary." He looked straight at his godfather now. "Next time I will curse you."

"I promise I won't steal it anymore, but if he hurts you again, in any way, I will find a way to destroy it." Sirius answered, fire in his eyes. Harry hadn't seen the flicker of red in his own eyes.

Harry nodded. He knew there was nothing he could do to stop Sirius, not if it was about something like his life. His eyes rested upon the horcrux, that was lying on the table besides him. This contained a piece of Voldemort's soul? It looked to normal. There was no magic, otherwise he would have been able to feel it.

Harry took the horcrux into his hand. It felt cold, but just a regular cold feeling, from metal o your hand, nothing magical. He opened the locket. A note dropped into his lap:

_To the Dark Lord_

_I know I will be dead long before you read this but I want you to know that it was I who discovered your secret. I have stolen the real Horcrux and intend to destroy it as soon as I can. I face death in the hope that when you meet your match you will be mortal once more._

_R.A.B._

"It's a fake." Harry looked at the note.

Tom appeared besides him, more ghost-like then before, but he was out of the diary once more. "I figured as much."


	22. Chapter 22

"I can't believe it." Harry said again. They had risked so much to get the horcrux and then it appeared to be a fake.

"Do not worry, Harry. Soon we will have the real horcrux." Riddle replied, he sounded bored. They had had this conversation many times before, it always had the same outcome. "Once your godfather lets us talk to Regulus that is."

Harry looked at the horcrux, the medallion turned around and around on its chain, back and forth. It was useless. Now that he thought about it, he had no idea why he held onto a fake. There was no use in keeping it. A sigh escaped his lips.

"Sirius won't let us talk to him until his strength is back." They didn't even know if Regulus had awoken yet. His godfather kept that a secret as well. It infuriated him, or so he thought. The line between his feelings and those of Riddle became vague. The understanding was definitely his. Sirius got his brother back after more then a decade, it was only logical that the man wanted to protect his brother.

"You could just ignore his wishes and see the man anyway." Riddle suggested, his gazed fixed upon the fake horcrux. "And could you please stop playing what that thing?"

Harry smirked. "Is it getting on your nerves Riddle?"

"Ofcourse not. It just reminds me of your failure." The Slytherin heir replied.

"My failure?" He looked at Riddle's ghostly-form, sitting a cross from him. "It' not my fault your magic failed to protect your bloody horcrux!"

Harry was glad there were no others left in the commonroom. It was long passed midnight, everyone else was asleep.

"I was talking about your inability to convince the mutt." Riddle replied, now looking straight at him. "Apparently you don't want to learn to defend yourself and your friends from the dark arts that bad."

He smacked the fake horcrux on the table. "You know that's not true!" He yelled unintentionally. The Slytherin was capable of getting under his skin, angering him.

"No?" Riddle still looked at him, no emotions visible. "I was under the impression you would do anything if there was something you wanted or needed, apparently I was wrong then."

The Slytherin raised an eyebrow. "Did you not promise me you would do anything in your power, to help me regain my horcruxes, and my body? I do believe you are breaking that promise. If you do not keep your part of the deal, I do not have to keep mine. And you do know what that means, do you not?"

Harry stared at the Slytherin Heir. Ofcourse he knew what that meant. Riddle promised him that he wouldn't do anything to endanger his friends and family. He did not care much about his own life, but his friends and family were something totally different, they were the reason he was doing this in the first place.

"You're a manipulative bastard, do you know that?" He hissed back.

"Ofcourse I do." The older boy smirked again. "Do mind your language. Or do you like the pain I can give you so much?"

"I don't like anything about you." He looked out of the window, trying to cool his temper. Would Riddle really break is promise if he couldn't convince Sirius? Yes, the Slytherin was such a man. He growled. "I hate you Riddle." He mumbled, still looking out of the window.

"Riddle is it? I thought be were on first name bases, Harry." Riddle purred.

"What are you talking about?" Harry looked at the Slytherin again. "We're not a first name-bases. I never called you 'Tom' and I never gave you the permission to call me Harry either."

"Oh really? So you prefer I call you 'Potter'? That sounds a bit ridiculous, does it not?" The Slyhtherin Heir grinned. "Besides you did use my first name. _Please Sirius, I promised Tom, don't make me break my promise._"

Harry's cheeks turned red immediately. He hadn't said that! The memories of that night were a bit vague. He remembered drinking the potion. Then the images and the pain came. Sirius kneeled beside him, talk to him. And then he pleaded. Merlin's beard, he had said it! "It was due to the effect of the potion. I would never say such things otherwise!"

"You might as well stop calling me Riddle, and start calling me Tom." The Slytherin replied. "Only people, who do not know one another, use each other's surnames. And we know each other well, now do we not, Harry?"

"I don't care. I'm not calling you Tom." He replied stubbornly. Then he got up from his chair at the window and walked to the stairs that led to the boy's dormitories. "I'm going to bed, Night Riddle." He did not turn around to look at his companion, he knew The Slytherin would have that evil smirk on his face, it would only annoy him more and amuse Riddle further.

* * *

"Harry! Where are you going mate?!" Ron called after him.

He looked around, just for a second. "Sirius." He said, although it was a lie. Lying to his friends got easier, but it still didn't feel good. The less they knew, the better.

That night Harry had thought a lot about what Riddle had said to him. If he wanted to protect his friends and family, he had to occasionally lie to them en do something they didn't like, for their own benefit. This was one of those moment. He had to talk to Regulus, he had no time to wait for permission. Yes, Sirius would be mad, but in order to help Riddle and destroy Voldemort, he needed Regulus his help, at least for this horcrux. Seeing how they had no clue about the location of the other horcruxes, they had to pursue this one.

Harry stopped in front of a very old and ugly painting. The witchmaster on it, looked curious at him, but he ignored it. Since when did he see Riddle and Voldemort as separate people? They were one and the same, even though one was considerably younger and more handsome. And less dark. He had to destroy the elder first, before he could move on to Riddle. If the Slytherin proved to be al right – let's face it, how could Riddle be anything more then al right?- he would leave the older boy in peace, otherwise...well, it was his destiny to destroy Voldemort, it didn't matter how many pieces or versions of him.

After checking that there was no one around to see him, he threw his invisibility cloak over his shoulder, covering himself from all curious and seeking eyes. After all he had yet to confront Umbridge, about his lack of presence in her classroom. But that was something he would worry bout later.

"Might I inquire were we are going?" The Slytherin appeared besides him, something in those dark eyes told Harry the older boy knew exactly were they were going.

"As if you need to ask." He replied, not looking at Riddle.

"I do believe you are becoming more like me each and every day, Harry. A true Slytherin."

Without looking up, he knew the Slytherin was smirking. "As if. I'm a true Gryffindor remember? I pulled Goderic Gryffindor's sword out of the sorting hat, using it to defeat you."

"Ah yes, but that was three years ago, you have changed a lot since that faithful night.. You are not that naïve innocent boy any more, now are you?" Riddle said nonchalantly.

Harry chose to ignore those words. Ofcourse he was no longer that little boy, without any knowledge of his past and his future. But he was still a true Gryffindor. And nothing that Riddle said or did, would change that.

He stopped at the door of Umbridge office. For a few seconds he listened, but there was no sounds. She wasn't in. perfect. He tried to doorknob, it didn't budge. Harry wasn't surprised, he would be extremely lucky if he could get in, without the use of magic.

"Alohomora." He whispered. Perhaps it was his lucky day, the door opened with a soft click. He stepped inside, closing the door behind him. The kittens on the plates looked at him, meowing. He ignored the incredibly horrible interior, and focused his attention on the fireplace. The only way out of Hogwarts, except for brooms. Seeing how he did not know in which direction Remus his house was, his broom was not an option. Besides, it was the middle November, it was to cold anyway.

"Do you even know were he lives?" Riddle asked, looking around the room, with a distinct loathing in his eyes.

"Ofcourse I do." Harry protested, before grabbing a hand full of green powder. He threw it into the fire, stepping in only moments later. "Brockhurst wood." He said, before being engulfed in green flames. He spinned around, his elbows pressed against his sides. His wand was still in his hand. After all if he wanted to talk to Regulus, he had to make sure Remus wouldn't tell Sirius or disturb them.

He landed on the worn carpet in front of the fireplace, quickly jumping up, aiming his wand everywhere and nowhere. Remus was not present in the room, but that would not take very long, after all he had made a lot of noise.

"Who is there?!" His old professor came into the living room. He thanked his father for the millionth time for the invisibility cloak. "Reveal yourself."

Harry closed his eyes for a moment en begged quietly for Remus his forgiveness. He made a motion with his wand, performing speechless magic with success. The werewolf fell down on the carpet after being paralysed.

He slipped passed the unmoving body of his former professor, up the stairs the man came from. There weren't many rooms in the small house in the woods. Just two. Remus his bedroom and a spare room. He opened the door to the spare room, finding the younger Black in the bed, with his eyes open, staring out the small window.

He stepped into the room, closing the door behind him. "When is my brother coming?" Regulus ask, not even looking in his direction.

Harry took of his invisibility cloak. "I don't know." He answered truthfully.

The younger Black looked at him immediately, panic flashed through those all to familiar grey eyes. "Who are you? Where is Lupin? What do you want?" Regulus was looking for something, anything to defend himself with.

Harry lowered his wand. "Don't worry. I'm not here to harm you. I'm here to talk to you. My name is Harry Potter." He tugged his wand in the back pocket of his trousers. "See, I just want to ask you something."

Regulus looked at him suspiciously. "Potter?"

"Yes. Harry Potter. Your brother is my godfather." He would be as honest as possible.

"Are you family of James Potter?" The young man asked.

"Yes, he's my father."

Regulus stared at him for a few moments, before the panic from earlier made place for disbelieve. "That is impossible." The younger Black Stated. "You are only a few years younger then he is."

"Was." Harry corrected. "My father is death, has been for fourteen years now."

"You are lying!" Regulus yelled, looking for something to defend himself with, yet again.

"Am I?" Harry raised an eyebrow. "Do you even know what year it is? Or has Remus failed to mention that? Don't you think it's odd that your brother and his friend look so much older then when you last saw them? You have been stuck on that little island for more then a decade, Regulus."

"But..that's not..." The younger Black was looking for words, for something to explain all of this, but he failed.

"Stop chitchatting and get to the point, Harry." Riddle appeared behind him. "We do not have all day."

"You!" At first the panic returned, but then Regulus became more relaxed then before, facing Riddle. "Are you here to kill me? I do not regret what I have done!"

Harry looked at Riddle and then at Regulus. "You can see him?"

"Do you know who I am?" Riddle asked at the same time, surprised, Harry could hear that in his voice, but it did not show on the older boy's face.

"Ofcourse I can." Those grey eyes never left Riddle. "You are him. Tom Riddle, The Dark Lord."

"Impressive. May I enquire how you have come to this information?" Riddle stepped closer, staring intently at Regulus.

Harry looked at the both of them. This was weird to say the least. No one had been able to see Riddle before – he was not aware that Sirius saw him in the cave- and only a few people knew that Tom Riddle was actually the younger version of Voldemort. There was a tension between the two Slytherins.

"I know all of your secrets." The young man answered. "I know your real name is Tom Riddle. I know that you have split your soul. And I found your horcrux."

At those last words, the Slytherin heir started to laugh. "All of my secrets? You are a fool, Regulus Black."

"Riddle, play nice." Harry said, not liking were this conversation was going.

"I am playing nice." Riddle smirked. "So what did you do to my horcrux?"

"I gave it to my house-elf. If what Potter says is true, then it has been destroyed long ago." The younger Black answered, without blinking once. All the fear and panic had left Regulus.

"Destroyed it?" The tone in Riddle's voice changed. "I will have to kill you for that."

The hiss in Riddle's voice, did not escape Harry. "Riddle!" He said again.

"A slow and painful dead seems fitting. What do you think Harry?" Venom was dripping from the otherwise charming and smooth voice.

"Tom!" Harry looked straight at him." If you are planning on killing anyone, I will put you back into that rotten diary of yours and defeat your older counterpart on my own!"

Riddle looked at him, there was something in those eyes Harry hadn't seen before. It didn't frighten him, still a chill ran down his spine. "Is that a threat Harry?"

Harry took a small step back, looking at the ghostly-form of his companion. _There is nothing to fear. _He said to himself. "As a matter of fact, it is. If I recall correctly, you have promised me that you would not harm my friends and family. Are you willing to break your promise?"

The Slytherin raised an eyebrow. "He is neither family nor a friend. I can do with him as I please."

Harry ignored the Black, who was staring intently at him. "Sirius is my godfather, that makes his brother by default my family." If Riddle even dared to harm Regulus in any way, the Slytherin would be in trouble. He was not going to let someone die over a horcrux. Apparently there were plenty left.

"Very well." The Slytherin Heir said. "What do you suggest we do?"

Harry stared at Riddle. Something wasn't right. Normally the Slytherin wouldn't comply with him that easily. He had to keep an eye on both Regulus and his companion. He liked his lips. He had to play this right, otherwise he would lose it all. "Regulus, where is your house-elf now."

"Kreacher?" The younger Black said, still looking at him, with something of awe in his eyes. "At home I suppose, unless he died."

"Kreacher?" The old house-elf at the headquarters of the order of the Phoenix. How stupid could he be? Regulus was Sirius his brother after all, and his godfather had already told him that their house-elf never liked him, not even when the Black was young. "Perhaps it's for the best that you join me and Riddle."

The young man nodded. "I was tired of Lupin anyway." The youngest Black came out of the bed, dressed in pyjama's that were clearly very old. Perhaps Sirius found them back at Grimmauldplace after al those years.

Regulus got dressed rather quickly. Riddle hadn't said a word. Harry could feel the disapproval coming towards him in waves. They left as soon as Regulus was ready. Harry used his invisibility cloak again, to shield him from Remus his eyes. They left through the fireplace, this time straight to the Black family house.

* * *

_Well, as promised the next chapter. It's not particularly good or exciting or interesting (forgive me for this), but it is needed to go on. Next chapter: Finding of the first real horcrux and...well no spoilers, that would be boring^^ Enjoy!_


	23. Chapter 23

Tom appeared next to Harry, as soon as the boy stepped out of the fireplace. He slowly raised an eyebrow, when he saw how Harry tripped over his own invisibility cloak. The young Gryffindor fell forward, against Regulus, who stepped out of the fireplace before them.

A sigh passed his lips, while he waited until the two of them got back up. It was easier said then done, seeing how Harry got trapped in the invisibility cloak en the young Black was underneath him.

Tom tapped impatiently with his fingers against his arm. "If you two are done..." He said, with a lightly irritated connotation in his voice.

The first to get back op, was Regulus. De young Black leaned against the table, clearly exhausted because of the small wrestling-round. A few seconds later Harry threw his invisibility cloak of his shoulders and got up as well.

"It's not like you have anything better to do Riddle." Bit the Golden boy.

"As a matter of fact, I do." He replied, looking straight at Harry. "I am trying to regain my body, if you remember?"

"Regulus." Harry said. "Call Kreacher please. He is still your house-elf."

Tom smirked. If Harry didn't have an answer, then the boy would ignore his words. It was good to know he still had it in him. But on the other hand it was a shame that his companion didn't get betetr in their word-games. Maybe he should concentrate a little bit more on that. Imagine that he would get bored!

"Kreacher?" The young Black asked. A moment later the house-elf appeared. Tom had seen this house-elf before, seeing how Harry -and by default he- had stayed here before.

"Master cal..." The house elf stared shocked at the youngest black. "Master Regulus!" He said. "Master was death, kreacher saw it himself. How pleased mistress will be to know her true son is still alive."

Once again tom raised one of his eyebrows. Kreacher was a strange houself, the creature talked to himself to much, probably due to the solitude this house-elf must have suffered. After all there hadn't been anyone in this house for over a decade. Or that was what Tom had picked up out of the words of the mutt.

"Kreacher." Regulus said. "Where have you done the locket?"

The house-elf looked up "The locket? Master Regulus told Kreacher to destroy it. Kreacher tried, tried really hard, but Kreacher was unable to destroy it. Don't be mad Master Regulus, kreacher tried, it was impossible."

"It' al right Kreacher." The younger Black said. "Just tell me were it is."

Tom grinned The locket hadn't been destroyed, which was good news for him, but not as good for Harry. There was more to their deal then finding the horcruxes. The Gryffindor had to hem him regain his body as well, by sacrificing the piece of Voldemort's soul inside the locket. And that would take a much greater toll on the boy's magic, then protecting this house-elf and his long lost master.

The house-elf disappeared, only to return a few minutes later, with the real locket in his small hand. Regulus took the locket, after which the Black looked at it, before directing his gaze at Harry.

Something in the eyes of the youngest Black didn't appeal to Tom.. But there was little he could do at this very moment. Harry would have to use his Gryffindor charms, whatever that might be.

"Can I have it?" His companion held out his hand towards Regulus. The young Black looked At Harry and then at Tom.

"I tried to destroy it." Regulus said; "I tried to weaken The Dark Lord. Is this going to make him more powerful?"

Tom looked at Harry curious what the boy was going to say. "No. It's going to weaken Voldemort." The boy said, looking straight at the young Black. "It's going to make Tom more powerful, but I'm hoping they are not one and the same person."

How naïve was Harry? Tom wondered. He looked at Harry, but could not see the boy's eyes. He was not like Voldemort, he would be worse. More subtle, yes, but his plans would go further. His was not planning on mutilating his body, like Voldemort did. Being young and handsome had its advantages.

Regulus still looked uncertain, but the Gryffindor Golden boy quickly changed that. "I'm Voldemort's greatest enemy, I'm prophesied to fight him. One can not live, while the other survives."

Those last words were part of the prophecy. Tom did not now the exact meaning of those words. There was after all a great difference between surviving and living. Neither of them had to die. And then there was him. He was not supposed to be here, that much he knew. Was Voldemort the one that needed to be destroyed? Was it him? Or perhaps both of them? There were so many variables, that Tom didn't dare to take any guesses right now.

"The Dark Lord killed enough people, ruined to many lives." Regulus said. "I don't want to be part of something that will cause more death and destruction."

"I understand." Harry replied. "If anything, i'm trying to prevent that. With Tom's help we can find the other horcruxes as well."

"There are more of those vile things?" The young Black looked shocked. No one ever expected Tom would make more then one horcrux. The transformation from young handsome man, into a snake-like fiend, did not come on it's own.

"He made five. And unless Voldemort produced a sixth that I am not yet aware of, he did not succeed in splitting his soul into seven." It was Tom who replied.

"How do you know that?" Harry asked, now looking at him. "You were the first piece he made."

"That man is a horcrux?" Regulus interjected, clutching the locket in his hand, before looking at it again and dropping it to the floor with a disgusted look on his face.

"Because as long as I remained in that diary, not more then a piece of soul, locked in the darkness, I was aware of his thoughts." He simply explained. "Now I am only aware of certain thoughts and emotions. My connection to my other self is growing weaker, as I grow stronger." As his connection with Harry grew stronger. But that were words he was not going to usher in this room, at this point in time.

Harry picked up the locket, looking at Regulus again. The sudden change in the boy's shoulders, and the tensing in his posture, told Tom a lot more then words could. The boy knew what he had meant with his words. "Thank you Regulus. Do we need to take you back or...?"

"I'm staying." The young man said. "This is my home, not the house of the werewolf."

"Okay." Harry tugged away the horcrux, grabbed his invisibility cloak and went back to the fireplace.

Tom followed promptly, only the disappear a moment later, when the Gryffindor threw some powder into the flames and said 'Hogwarts.

* * *

"Are you up to the task?" Riddles asked him, when they had sneaked out of Umbridge her office again.

"Task?" He pulled of his invisibility cloak and tugged in his bag again. The cold metal of the horcrux, pressed against his hand, the edges almost cut through his skin. Now that he had the real thing, he didn't want to let it go.

"The spell, to regain my body." Riddle simply stated.

"Of course." He said, while looking as confident as possible. But he wasn't confident at all. He hadn't been this insecure since the sorting-ceremony at the beginning of his first year. He felt as sick as he did back then as well. Who knew what Riddle would do once he regained his body and his strength. Harry was afraid the Slytherin would join his other self. After all how much did he really know about Tom Riddle, besides the fact that the young man would turn into a masmurdering psychopath?

"You promised." The Slytherin heir said. "You know what will happen if you break that promise."

"I'm not going to break it!" Harry bit back. "Tell me what needs to be done."

He knew he had no other choice. The safety of his friends and family depended on the promise he made with Riddle. Backing out was not an option. There were five more horcruxes, enough to make sure Riddle would not harm anyone.

"We need somewhere we will not be disturbed." Riddle said, waving at a door. "One of the classroom will suffice."

Harry took a deep breath, after which he stepped into the first empty classroom he came across. He locked the door behind him. He took out the diary and placed the locket on top of it. Then he looked at the Slytherin.

"Putting to pieces of a soul back together is not easy. "Riddle explained. "It will drain a lot of your power. This kind of magic is dark and it requires a blood sacrifice."

A blood sacrifice. Harry paled a little. He wasn't expected anything light, which would give him a good and happy feeling, but he thought restoring a piece of soul would be less dark, then splitting one's soul. But then again he didn't know the magic to split a soul.

"What else?" He asked, not looking at Riddle. The sooner this was over, the sooner he could go back to actually protecting his friends and family and defeating Voldemort.

"Magic." Riddle said, smiling. "We have to two pieces of my soul we want to reunited, we have our sacrifice. Al you need is magic."

"And what do you need Riddle? In order to make this work?" Harry looked at the Slytherin Heir. There was something Riddle wasn't telling him, he could feel it.

"I have you." Those three little words, usher so soft, with a dangerous edge to them, gave Harry the chills.

"Right." He muttered, while taking out his wand. He levitated the desk to the side of the classroom. Then he placed the two horcruxes in front of him on the ground.

Riddle stood right in front of him, looking at him now. "Draw a circle around us and the two objects, using the incantation Veneficus Orbis."

Harry did as he was told. He walked around in a circle, casting the spell around them, making sure he stayed inside the circle of magic. Each time he pointed his wand to the ground, and cast the spell, a line of light appeared before him. Making a full circle once he was finished.

"Listen carefully. You are going to have to open the locket. Something, resembling me will come out. It will not harm you, as it senses my presence." Riddle spoke softly, as if he was afraid someone would hear them. "But it is going to fight you, when you offer the piece to me. My other self split his soul for a reason, this piece does not want to undo what he worked so hard for."

Harry nodded. He didn't expect it would be easy. "What is the incantation?" He asked, trying not to focus on the sacrifice he had to bring later.

"Conportatus animae." Riddle said. "That is to merge my soul-piece, with that of the locket. But that is the easiest part. You have to really want it, to undo what my other self has done. You have to feel...remorse, not for what you have done yourself, but for what Voldemort has done. It is hard, I know this, because this is something you have not caused. You have to regret his decisions...my decisions. Not for yourself, but for the people who died, who he has killed."

"Why can't you do that? It's your bloody mistake." Harry asked, not trusting this at all. Why should he feel remorse and regret, for things he hadn't done? That was The Slytherin's job.

"Because I am but a piece of a soul. I can not do the spell, I can not transfer my feelings." That was easy for Riddle to say. Harry would have put it differently: Riddle didn't feel remorse, he couldn't feel it, because in his mind it was the right thing to do, to preserve himself. The Slytherin Heir did not care about anyone else.

"Fine. But you're buying me a drink after this. I need a butter-beer." Harry murmured. He couldn't believe he was actually going to do this. He didn't know what to expect. Riddle said it would take a lot of his power. What if it was to much? Would the Slytherin let him die?

He shook his head. This were things he could not thing about, not right now. If he were to die, so be it. He looked at Riddle. "And the blood sacrifice?"

"It has to go on the diary. I need your blood, to gain my body." Riddle looked at the little book, lying innocently on the ground. "Open the locket, keep repeating the incantation, drop the blood onto the diary and then...well, it should work."

"It should work?" Harry asked, while conjuring a knife.

"I never tried it before." The Slytherin answered. "But no worries, if it doesn't work, nothing should happen."

"How reassuring." Harry mumbled. Better to get it over with.

He looked at the diary, and then at the locket. "Open." He hissed, the parseltongue came automatically. The locket opened with a soft click. Not unlike the diary a silhouette came out of the locket. It was more like a face then anything. His eyes were red, like Voldemort's and he didn't look as handsome as Riddle did.

He mentally smacked himself. Riddle wasn't handsome, he was a pain in the ass. The horcrux spoke. "Harry Potter." It said. "So much darkness in your heart."

He blinked. Perhaps it was better to ignore this being, whatever it was. It would divert him from his task. He looked at his Riddle. "Conportatus animae." He said. The locket-Riddle's eyes widened.

"What are you doing?" It asked, but Harry ignored it.

"Conportatus animae." He repeated. The circle of light turned dark, like a ring of shadow. "Conportatus animae." The locket-Riddle became bigger, it wrapped him, cutting of his sight and hearing. But still he did not stop.

His hands trembled when he sliced the knife through his wrist. Blood dripped from the knife and his wrist onto the ground. Then he turned his hand, reaching for the diary. The soft thick on paper let him know that the blood reached it's target. "Conportatus animae."

The smoke, that was now the locket-Riddle, made it hard for him to breath. But he could feel the magic, the energy. Something was happening. He had to feel the remorse and the regret, for things he did not do. It was hard, especially when some creature was trying to suffocate him. He repeated the incantation time after time. His voice got weaker, rasping.

He felt nauseated. The blood was still dripping from his wrist, hand and fingers, but that didn't matter now. Magic surged through his whole body. The darkness vanished, other images were played in front of him. He could see a hand, that was not his own, holding a long wand. Someone was in front of him, a woman. She looked scared. A green flash, and her body lay limb against an cold brick wall.

"No." He whispered. He didn't kill her! It wasn't him. "I'm sorry." He reached out to her, but he couldn't touch. He couldn't feel the warmth that slowly left her body.

"Harry!"

"I'm so sorry." He whispered again. Then the vision disappeared. Tom appeared before him. His dark eyes looked worried. But that was not possible. Tom didn't care about him. Tom was Voldemort, a mass murdering psychopath. He blinked once, before his sight faded and darkness surrounded him.

* * *

"Ron!" Hermione hissed.

The redhead looked up. She gestured for him to come closer. She had a tick book onder her arm, looking around the coming room. But Harry wasn't there, not to her surprise. He was almost never there any more.

Ron got up and walked towards her. She pulled him into a dark corner, opening the book. "I found the boy we saw the other day."

The redhead looked puzzled.

"With Harry in the astronomy-tower. The Slytherin?" Hermione looked at him.

"'Mione, we don't know if we saw anything. It c..." Ron started.

"I know what I saw, Ronald." She said, browsing through the book, until she found the right page again. She tapped with her finger on a photograph. It was in black and white. A young man was displayed on it. He almost didn't move on the picture, and when he did, it were only his dark eyes.

"That' him." Ron exclaimed.

"Hush." She looked around the commonroom once more, but nobody even looked at them.

"But who is he?" The red-head asked.

Hermion tapped with her finger on the name underneath the photograph, it said:

_Tom M. Riddle,_

_Slytherin,_

_Headboy_

_1945_

"Do you think it him?" Ron sounded a lot more scared then he was before. They both knew what it meant.

"Who else could he be? We know Riddle was a halfblood and his father was a muggle. Even the date fits." Hermione closed the book, biting her lip. "Ron.." She hesitated for a moment. "You know what this means, don't you?"

Ron looked at her, his face had turned white. "Do you think harry is possessed?"

"I don't know, but it could explain his weird behaviour." She said. "The question is how."

"Should we tell Dumbledore?"

"I don't know." She answered again. How could they betray their friend? Dumbledore asked them to spy on Harry, and that was exactly what they had done. But she never planned on telling their headmaster anything. Especially not something weird, like seeing a ghostlike form of the young Voldemort. But what if Harry was possessed? They couldn't leave their best friend like that. They had to find a way to break the spell that trapped Harry. Without the help of Dumbledore.

They both went quiet, each of them drawn into their own thoughts, their own imagination of the events that had passed and were about to come.

It was at that very moment Neville stumbled into the commonroom. His face was red, and his breath was rapid, Neville had been running. "Ron..." He huffed. "Hermione, Harry is in the hospital wing. Some Slytherin found him in an abandoned classroom."

Ron was the first to be on his feet. " Found him? Hexed him into next week is more like it." He said, anger went through the red-head like poison. His head turned nearly as red as Neville's.

"Oh my God." Hermione said softly, more shocked then angry. She left the commonroom, followed by Ron and Neville.

It took them no more then three minutes to get to the hospitalwing. Hermion walked in first, looking at the empty beds, until she found the silhouette of their best friend. Harry was lying in the very last bed, as far as possible from the entrance. His face was pale, and his cheeks looked hollow. When she came closer, she saw the dark circles underneath Harry's eyes.

"No more then three visitors!" Madame Pomfrey said sternly.

"But there are on..." Ron began. Hermione followed his gaze, until her eyes landed on the young man sitting next to Harry's bed. His dark eyes were locked on them, the soft smile on his face – how charming it might have looked for others- predicted a thunderstorm was on it's way.


	24. Chapter 24

_I'm on a roll. This is actually going well again, even though I'm still a bit busy. Hope you enjoy it! Thank you so much for the reviews, It always helps me to continue. It's nice to have some fans at least^^_

* * *

Tom looked at the trio that just entered the hospital wing. The girl, Hermione Granger, was looking at him. Her eyes told him everything he needed to know. But there was no harm in playing, now was there? After all Harry said nothing about games. He smiled slightly.

"I know who you are." The girl said.

"As do I, Miss Granger." He answered. "And what are you going to do with that information?"

The red-head, a Weasley, something beginning with an R -he didn't bother to come up with the name- stepped forward. His face was almost as pale as Harry's was. "You better leave him alone." The boy said.

Tom smiled again. "Or what?" He asked, his voice as smooth as silk. "Are you going to curse me? Probably, being the foolish little Gryffindor you are. But it would not be bravery Weasley, it would be idiocy."

"We will tell Dumbledore." Hermione whispered. "Harry is not yours."

He laughed. How could this girl be so foolish? Of course the Golden boy was his, at least for now. And he would make sure it stayed that way, no matter what he had to do for it. "Go and tell the old fool. I doubt he is unaware of my presence. But before you do, ask yourself this." He got to his feet, walking towards the two Gryffindors. He ignored the third. "What will Dumbledore do? Will he save Harry? Perhaps. He will be 'saved' from me but he will be cast into a war, he can not win. He is only a boy, a fifteen year old boy, used as a tool, robbed of his childhood, all because of Dumbledore."

He raised his hand when the girl was about to speak. "I know what you want to say. It was I who killed his parents, but you are mistaken. I did nothing. I did not place him in that family of muggles, who abuse him every day. I did not cast him out of the wizarding-world, in order to shape him after my own image when he was ready. Think about this, Miss Granger. What would you do, to save Harry from his fate?"

He looked straight into her eyes. She swallowed, but didn't take one step back. Brave Gryffindor indeed. "Would you deliver him to his supposed enemy? Would you use the darkness inside your heart, to cast away his chains? Or will you idly stand by while he is consumed by the only thing he knows: Fighting and surviving."

The smile had vanished of his face. "If I were you, I would give him a chance for a new live, a real live. Not a shadow of one. No matter what the price might be."

Then he turned his back to her and walked back to Harry's bedside, seating himself in his chair again. If they thought he was leaving, they couldn't be more wrong. He couldn't leave, not yet anyway. He was bound to Harry, as much as Harry was bound to him.

"We will not let you have him." The foolish red-head Gryffindor spat. "If that's what you mean. Harry will break free of your mind control."

"Mind control?" He shook his head. "Really Weasley? You think I am controlling him? All of his actions are his own. He knows the risks, but he is willing to take them."

The girl was brave enough to come closer. She stepped around the bed, grabbing Harry's hand, when she was at the other side of the boy's bed. He followed her gaze to the bandage on his wrist. Madame Pomfrey had healed the wound quit well, but there was some scar-tissue, and the skin was still red. His magic wasn't powerful enough to heal such wounds, not yet anyway.

He stared at Harry's face. What had gone wrong? Of course he knew Harry was going to lose a lot of energy, but not this much. It had gone exactly how he thought it would, until the boy started mumbling something, screaming even. The Golden boy had seen something, he should not have seen. And he was going to get to the bottom of this.

He looked up when he felt a pair of eyes on him. "What is it Weasley?" He was unable to hide the bored tone in his voice. How could he not be bored? The only fun person was lying unconscious in the bed next to him.

"I don't trust you." The boy said.

"Oh really? And why is this obvious fact worth mentioning?" He closed his eyes for a moment. "Really Weasley, grow some brains. It would save us a lot of time."

The third Gryffindor came a little bit closer, looking at Harry, not at him. He studied the boy carefully. There was nothing special about him, he looked as dumb as Weasley and as boring as the mudblood on the other side of Harry's bed. "I thought Madame Pomfrey said only three visitors?"

"Yeah, then why don't you leave?" The red-head had grabbed his wand and aimed it at him. Foolish Gryffindor. Even without his full powers, he could still best Weasley in a fight.

"Mister Weasley!" A stern voice said. "Put that wand down! Potter is hurt enough without your clumsy spe..." Her voice dropped when she saw Tom, sitting at Harry's bedside. "Mister Weasley, go get the headmaster."

Tom smirked slightly when the woman aimed her own wand at him. Now this would be a challenge, in his current state anyway. But he had no intention of fighting anyone. After all he had promised Harry he would not hurt any of his friends or family, this Professor would count as one Harry cared about.

The red-head was gone, before anyone could say anything else. Now this would be exciting. How would his old headmaster react to his presence, and at the side of his sacrificial lamb no less.

"I suppose you know who I am as well?" He asked, looking at the professor. The woman did not react, smart. "I am surprised the old fool told someone. The mutt did not know who I was. But that is logical, Dumbledore offered him up, as much as he is going to offer Harry up." All he had to do was plant seeds of doubt in their minds, and they would mistrust Dumbles as much as Harry and the mutt did right now.

"Minerva, what is going on?" The headmaster stepped into the hospitalwing, followed by the red-head. "Mister Weasley told me something about Harry and Voldemort." The old man stopped pretty much in the same manner the woman had done earlier.

"Hello headmaster." Tom said, still smirking.

"Tom." The old fool said.

A moment later madame Pomfrey stepped out of her office again. "What is going on here? I said three visitors only, no offence Minerva, Albus, But the boy needs his rest!"

"It's quit al right, Poppy." Dumbledore answered. "If you would all leave us please. You to Miss Granger, Mister Weasley. And take Longbottom with you."

Tom followed them with his eyes, until the door of the hospitalwing closed behind them. Madame Pomfrey had locked herself up in her chambers again. His eyes found the bright blue one's of his former headmaster.

"Might I ask what you have done to Harry?" The old man looked rather calm.

"Nothing." He simply answered. He was not going to enlighten Dumbledore. His plans were his own, the old fool had not business knowing them.

"The boy is not a toy for you to break, Tom."

"Says the old man, who is using him for his own gains." And he was not going to break Harry, not yet anyway. He needed the boy, for now. "I am not harming him in any way, _Professor._"

"You can not expect me to believe those words." Dumbledore hadn't moved an inch, the man kept his distance, not even holding his wand in his hand. But Tom knew Dumbledore did not need a wand to cast magic. "I have to ask you to leave the school grounds."

"If you want to let Harry suffer indefinitely, that is what you should ask." This was his domain. This was one game Dumbledore would not win, not as long he was bound to Harry.

"What have you done?" The old fool asked once again.

"Nothing." Same question, same answer. "What you should ask, is what Harry has done. But then again, that is no question I can, or will answer. I am not leaving him, and there is nothing you can do to change that."

For the first time the old fool moved. He sat himself down on a chair at the other side of Harry's bed. "Haven't you caused enough pain, Tom? Don't you feel remorse for what you have done already? You of all people should understand how horrible it is to grow up without your parents, without anyone that loves you. That is what you have condemned Harry to. He grew up alone, without the love of his parents, because of your selfish needs. What do you want? Someone to follow in your footsteps, the boy is never going to do that, he has light in his heart, not darkness."

"You forget it was not me, who killed his parents. I have been...otherwise engaged." He still looked at Dumbledore's bright blue eyes. "You are not any better then I am. You use him, to win this war for you. What do you want? Credit for slaying my older counterpart? Or do you want to make up for your 'mistakes' of the past? How many people know the true story behind you and Grindewald?"

"I have tried to help you Tom, to make you see, what you could not see. Everyone makes mistakes in their live, and some you can never erase, but you could try. You could repent, feel remorse."

Dumbledore would make a fine Slytherin. The man avoided the topic changing to himself. He smirked. "Remorse? I do not need to feel remorse, I have Harry for that now."

"And how does that work? No one can repent for your sins." The old fool acted like they were in class. And at that very moment Tom felt like his sixteen year old self again. After all he never had the chance to be someone else.

"Why do you not figure that out yourself? After all I am only a student, and your are the teacher, _professor_."

They stared at each other for a while. Dumbledore was the first one to look away. Tom followed the headmasters gaze to the diary that was laying next to Harry on the nightstand.

"And what is this?" Dumbledore picked up the diary and turned it around.

"Do not touch that!" Tom got to his feet, taking out Harry's wand. "Put it down."

But the old fool did not listen. Dumbledore opened the diary and looked inside it. "This is your old diary. Is this how you came into our world?"

"I have no obligation to answer that question." Tom stated. "But if you must know, Harry was the tool of my resurrection."

He used the boy's wand to levitate the diary out of Dumbledore's hand and into his own. It actually surprised him how well Harry's wand worked for him. It was probably due to their connection. He didn't mean the connection through the diary, but the connection the boy had to his older counterpart. The only question that remained was how that connection came to exist.

"Thank you Tom." Dumbledore got back on his feet. "You have told me more then enough." After those words, the man left the hospitalwing, leaving him alone with Harry.

* * *

Harry blinked a couple of times. What had happened Why did his head hurt? He felt weak, and at the same time stronger then before. His vision was blurry, probably because he wasn't wearing his glasses. He reached out his hand to the nightstand. His fingers found the soft leather cover of the diary, moving on he found his glasses. But even with those back on his nose, his vision was still a bit vague.

"How are you feeling?" He turned his head towards the soft voice. Tom.

"Okay, I guess. What happened?" He tried to sit upright, but the Slytherin stopped him.

"You have lost a great deal of energy, please lie still."

He did as Tom said, but only because he felt sick the moment he moved to much. Then he closed his eyes again, trying hard to remember what had happened. "The last thing I remember was seeing your face." He murmured.

"What else do you remember?" There was something of in the tone of Tom's voice.

"I remember the shadows and the smoke. It tried to suffocate me." What else? There had been a woman, she had been scared, her eyes filled with tears. And then the green flash, a flash that was so familiar to him. "I killed someone..."

Silence fell, while he tried to remember why he killed that woman, how she even got there. It was not someone he knew. He would never kill anyone, not even if it was a massmurdering psychopath. Then why did he do this? Was he possessed? Was he going dark?

His eyes found those of the Slytherin Heir. "Who was that woman? What was she doing there."

Tom ignored his questions. "How do you feel? With the thought in your head that you killed someone."

"I...I don't know." Did he really kill her? It all seems a little bit foggy. "I'm sorry for her. And...Am I going dark?"

Tom studied hem, he felt like an insect on display. "No." The Slytherin finally said. "You are still the Prince of the light."

"Why do you say that?" Harry felt confused. Did killing mean nothing to him was he above such things? No. If he killed someone, he was evil. But he didn't now did he? "You killed her."

"Indeed I did. What you saw was a memory, one of my memories." Tom leaned back into his chair, seemingly disappointed. "I killed her in order to make my first horcrux, being my sixteen year old self locked in the diary."

Harry looked at Tom. Was the Slytherin disappointed because Harry did not feel comfortable by the idea of killing someone? Or was it something else entirely? Why couldn't he read The Slytherin's feelings, like Tom could read his?

"But why did I see that memory, like it was my own?" He asked. There was something Tom wasn't telling him. And since when did he call Tom Tom? Where had Riddle gone? His mind was screwed, that was the only explanation. When he got better, he would be his normal self again.

"Using that magic, to fuse me and the locket-me together...It is complicated. You served as my substitute. You repented for the crime I committed, you were the one that needed to feel the remorse, not me. That is why you saw what you did." Tom looked out the window, half lost in his own thoughts. "But why you reacted like you did...I do not know."

Harry shrugged. "It's probably due to my connection with your psychotic counterpart. And my connection to you, through the diary. I've seen other things, in my dreams. I suspect Voldemort dreams about it as well, or subconsciously thinks about it."

Tom looked up. "You have seen other things? Like what?"

"Uhm...there is this corridor I keep dreaming about. And at the end there is a door, but I can never open the door. It's quit frustrating." Harry admitted. He wanted to know what was behind the door. And he recognised the corridor. He had been there before, or in a corridor just like it, but he just couldn't remember where.

"I have seen this corridor as well. My connection to my counterpart is stronger then yours." Tom shrugged himself, before looking out the window once again. Harry raised an eyebrow. The Slytherin was not going to tell him where this corridor was, or what was hidden behind the door. Then he would have to find it out himself.

Perhaps he could ask Hermione this one thing. His eyes widened for a moment. Had they visited him yet? Did they see Tom? Before he could ask, someone bursted into the hospitalwing.

"Where are you, you slimy sneaky bastard!" It was Sirius, and he didn't look happy. His godfather had crossed the room, before he could say anything. The man grabbed Tom by his collar. "Where the hell is my brother?!"

"Sirius! What are you doing?" Harry sat up, looking at the dark-haired man. "Someone could see you! Do you want to go back to Azkaban?"

"He has done something to my brother Harry!" Sirius yelled. "Remus saw him! Have you killed him? You bastard!"

Tom looked neutral, his hand was clenched around the hand that grabbed his collar, but other then that the Slytherin did not stir.

"Put him down Sirius!" He felt nauseated again. His head was spinning, for a moment everything became black before his eyes. When he opened them again, both Tom and Sirius were looking at him. His Godfather was worried, but the look in Tom's eyes...he could not decipher it.

"This is all your fault!" Sirius yelled yet again, after making sure Harry was al right. What happened next...Well, Harry was honestly impressed. There were only a few people he knew, that had the guts to stand up to Voldemort, or Tom Riddle. But Sirius did it none the less, by hitting the Slytherin in the face. His Godfather's fist hit the nose of Tom. Harry could hear it break.

He stared at Tom, who's face was hidden by his dark hair. When the Slytherin looked up, Harry could see the blood. It dripped from Tom's nose, onto the ground. The look in those dark eyes was murderous. This was not going to end well.

"How dare you?" the Slytherin hissed, raising a wand, Harry's wand!

"Tom no!" Harry jumped out of the bed, ignoring the protests from his body. He swayed a little bit, before grabbing Tom's arm. He yanked his wand out of the hands of the Slytherin Heir.

"He broke my nose! For no reason at all!" Tom hissed. "Give me back your wand."

"You are not going to hex my own godfather with my own wand! Is that clear!"

"Mister Potter! Get back in your bed." Madame Pomfrey appeared out of her chambers. "And you two, leave." if she recognised Sirius, she did not act on it. Perhaps madame Pomfrey knew Sirius was innocent, Dumbledore could have told her.

"I will not leave." Tom stated, sitting himself down in the chair once more. The nurse looked at the Slytherin questioning, before hustling Harry back in his bed.

"What about you mister Black?" She asked.

"I'm not leaving my godson alone with this bastard." Sirius sat down on the opposite side of Harry's bed, staring straight at Tom. This would be a lovely evening, Harry thought. Especially with those two in the same room.

"Then I don't want to hear another word out of the two of you. Mister Potter needs his rest." She turned around once again, to go back to her chambers." And do something about your appearance, Mister Black, I don't want any students running out screaming, because a mass-murderer is sitting in my hospitalwing."

When Madame Pomfrey had closed the door to her chambers again, he looked from Tom to Sirius and back again. The first was changing his appearance to a dark brown haired man, with a different face, but the same eyes."Let me make one thing very clear." He said, his voice soft, to avoid alarming the nurse again. "If the two of you start a fight again, in the near future, I will banish the both of you out of my life. Yes Sirius, that means you as well. I love you, and I am happy to have some sort of family again, but I will not stand this."

He raised his hand when Tom wanted to make a remark. "No comments. Like Madame Pomfrey said, I need my rest. You can sit at my bedside, but I don't want to hear another word. Or you can find those bloody horcruxes of you yourself, Tom."

Sirius relaxed into his seat, not letting his eyes of the Slytherin heir. Tom on the contrary looked at him, with his trademark smirk on his face. _I did gain something else today. _The Slytherin spoke softly through their connection.

_Oh and what is that? _Harry answered in the same manner.

_You stopped calling me Riddle._


	25. Chapter 25

Thank you so much for the reviews! I hope you like the next chapter. For all those who wonder, i'm not sure yet whehter or not I'm going to make Harry dark. There are so many possibilities.

Next up: Umbridge, beware!

* * *

When Harry woke up the next morning, both Tom and Sirius were still there. He didn't expect anything else. They were both still a sleep. Sirius lay curled up in his chair, like the dog he could turn into. It was weird seeing the man with brown hair and a different face, but it was better then his godfather being send back to Azkaban.

His eyes turned towards Tom. The Slytherin slept, like he lived, sitting upright in his chair. While most people tossed and turned all night, Tom looked like he hadn't moved at all. There was not a hair out of place and his posture was graceful. It was a little bit weird to see.

Harry got out of the bed silently, not wanting to wake either of them. He barely got his robes on, when madame Pomfrey came out of her chamber. "Ah mister Potter, good to see that you are up. Let me do a quick check-up, but I'm sure you can go."

"I feel fine." He said, while the nurse traced her wand over his body. She looked quit pleased with the results.

"You are fine." She said. "The headmaster would like to see you now."

Dumbledore? That would be an awkward conversation. He wasn't even sure he wanted to talk to the headmaster. But avoiding it would do no one any good. With a sigh he looked at Tom. A pair of familiar dark blue eyes stared back at him.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" The Slytherin heir asked.

"You." Harry answered. "I suppose I still cant go anywhere without you or your diary?"

"You can not." One day he was going to wipe that smirk of Tom's face.

He grabbed a quill and a piece of parchment, to write a note to Sirius. His godfather would be furious if he just left, without telling the man where he had gone.

_Dear Sirius,_

_Dumbledore wanted to see me. I will come by later. Your brother is fine. He's currently staying at Grimmauldplace. Kreacher is taking care of him._

_Harry._

He placed the note on the nightstand, in direct view of Sirius. He looked at his godfather a few seconds longer. He knew what he was going to ask Tom in exchange for the next horcrux. And he was certain the Slytherin could pull it of.

"Oh and mister Potter." Madame Pomfrey said. "Try not to get hurt again. Otherwise you can better reserve a permanent bed in my hospitalwing."

He grinned at her innocently. It was true, he was in here every other day. But then again his life was a lot more exciting and dangerous then that of an ordinary teenager.

They left the hospitalwing. Harry still didn't feel like talking to the headmaster, but he knew he could better get this over with quickly. Neither of them spoke a word on their way to Dumbledore's office.

"Uhm..." Harry looked at the gargoyle. "Sherbet lemon?" The gargoyle did not move. Madame Pomfrey could at least have given him the password! "Lemon drops? Chocolate frogs? Ginger newt? Pumpkin fizz?"

"Harry, what are you doing?" Tom asked, looking at him incredulous.

"I was trying to think of the password." Harry mumbled, still looking at the Gargoyle. What else? There were so many sweets, it was hard to pick the right one. "Acid pops?" He tried. The gargoyle moved, revealing a spiralling stair.

"He uses a sweet as password?" The Slytherin asked mockingly. "That man is insane."

"Probably, but I like these password's more, then those of the Slytherin commonroom." He grinned. "Pureblood? That's not only ridiculous, it's also pretty obvious."

"It is because it is so obvious, that no one is going to guess it." Tom stated, stepping on the stairs, followed by Harry. "Why kind of passwords do Gryffindor's use?"

"It varies, but it's not that obvious. We don't use words like 'bravery' or 'dumb luck'." He knocked on the door to the headmasters office. A moment later a voice said 'enter' and that's what they did.

Dumbledore's office hadn't changed a bit since he was last there. There was still a lot of small instruments, huffing and puffing, and the portraits of the previous headmasters still hang in their respective places. They were all awake, looking at him and Tom.

"Ah Harry, thank you for coming." The headmaster said. "And Tom...could you please wait outside."

"I am afraid I can not do that, headmaster." Tom replied.

"He can't Professor." Harry said. "We are bound to one another. What ever you have to say to me, you can say in the presence of Tom."

The headmaster looked at the both of them, before he sighed and gestured the both of them to sit down. Harry looked at Dumbledore, wondering what the headmaster wanted from him. He had made it perfectly clear, he didn't want anything to do what whatever scheme the man could come up with. He had his own plan of action now, and it was working perfectly, give or take a few unforeseen accidents.

"I just want to make sure, that you know what you are doing." Dumbledore began. "This is the younger version of Lord Voldemort you are dealing with."

Dumbledore spoke as if Tom wasn't even in the room. Harry did not know why, but it bothered him. The Slytherin was a living human being, he deserved to be acknowledge. "I know perfectly well who he is, professor. Unlike some people he does not hide anything from me, he is not putting up a façade to_ protect me_." He emphasized those lost two words.

"Harry my boy, please listen to me." The headmaster looked tired. "He is using you to get whatever he wants, you can not trust him."

"And I can trust you? Is that what you are saying?" He ask heatedly, his magic flared for a moment, breaking a small jar to his left. "You have lied to me for the past four years! You kept me locked up in a house with people that hate me, just because you thought it to be better!"

Harry shoved his chair back in anger. "I don't trust you, and frankly I don't really like you any more either."

His green eyes were filled with defiance, pain and anger. "You are not going to use me any more. I can make my own decisions. And right now I'm helping Tom. I made him a promise, and I intent to keep it. Unlike with you I know exactly where I'm standing."

That last part was not completely true. The Slytherin didn't tell him everything, there were to many things he did not know yet. But for the time being he accomplished more with Tom, then with Dumbledore. At least Tom answered his questions honestly, or as truthful as the Slytherin had to answer them under the magic of their vows.

"I know I have wronged you." Dumbeldore looked defeated now. "And I am truly sorry, but I stay by what I said last time, it was all for your own protection. I am merely asking you to think about it Harry. I'm not going to interfere in your choices. He did kill your parents, and many others."

"He did not kill my parents!" Harry just couldn't stop yelling, the anger was to much. But in the back of his mind he knew it was not his anger, nor Tom's. It was Voldemort's. "Voldemort killed my parents. It was Voldemort who killed all those innocent people."

The headmaster had a curious look in his bright blue eyes. "You are making a distinction between Tom and Voldemort." The man remarked. "You do realise they are one and the same person?"

"No they are not." He said. He could feel the Slytherin's eyes on him, but he did not look back. "Voldemort is a massmurdering psychopath. Tom...he's different." Harry realised he was probably wrong. It was Tom who chose to become Voldemort, who chose to kill all those people. But perhaps he could change something about that. They had a long journey ahead, perhaps he had enough time to make his companion see his mistakes. "Could we please stop this conversation now? I'm not going to abandon Tom, I'm not going to tell you how he came into this world, or where I found him, and I'm not going to help you with whatever scheme you have in your mind. You might as well give up."

"Give up?" The headmaster asked. "I will never give up on you Harry. But I will put an end to this topic for now."

For the first Dumbledore looked straight at Tom. "As for you, Tom. I believe you need a place to stay. Your old dorm will suffice for now. You can participate in all the classes of the sixth year, if that pleases you. I will, however, not tolerate any dark magic in this school. Is that clear?"

"I will participate in any and all classes Harry participates in. And I want you to resort him into Slytherin, as he can not leave my side at this very moment." Tom replied, as if they were discussing what to get for dinner.

"Hang on!" Harry looked at Tom. "I'm not becoming a snake, just to please you. You can come and sleep with me in the Gryffindor tower. Unlike you I have friends here and I w..."

Tom had raised his hand. "Y_ou do no longer talk to your friends. Your housemates will never accept a Slytherin in their midst, let alone the Heir of Slytherin himself. I believe you are brave enough to face a few snakes during the nights. We can still sit at your table during meals, if that makes you happy._" Harry recognised the parseltongue, replying in the same manner.

"_Well..._" It was hard to argue with that. But Harry would not become a snake, not in a million years. "_I'll remain a Gryffindor. And if any of your new housemates even tries to attack me, we're moving to my dorm._"

"_If any try, they will face my wrath._" Tom hissed. A shiver ran down Harry's spine. Sometimes the Slytherin reminded him of his future self. At a moment such as this, he doubted he could change Tom, change his path to destruction.

"I didn't say they would succeed." He continued stubbornly in English. "But if they try, I'm leaving, and you are coming with me."

"Fine. I will make sure then that they do not even try." Tom smirked.

"Fruitloop." Harry muttered.

"I can not allow Harry to sleep in the Slytherin dormitories, if that is what the both of you where talking about." Dumbledore intervened.

Harry looked at the headmaster. The man couldn't decide where he was sleeping. That was up to him. He knew it was unheard of, but it was not forbidden. There was no rule that prevented him from sleeping in an other dormitory.

"But sir." He started, his voice sugary sweet and questioning. "Would this not promote house-unity? Is this not what the sorting hat wanted?"

He felt the Slytherin Heir's eyes upon him, but he ignored it. His eyes where fixed on Dumbledore. The headmaster looked surprised. "You of all people must know how unbalanced the contact between Gryffindor and Slytherin is. Perhaps this might help other people see that we can work together. Isn't that much more important? After all we need to be united if we want to win this war."

"House-unity is very important." Dumbledore said perplexed. "But..."

Harry raised a hand. "I know what you are going the say." A smile appeared on his face. "But if the other Slytherins are okay with it, will you approve?"

He wasn't as dumb as he looked. He knew exactly what to say, to get what he needed. After all he had learned from the best. His web was woven around Dumbledore, rendering him unable to refuse his request. It would damage the headmaster's reputation if word got out that the man didn't really promote house-unity, but denied every student the chance to get to know other houses, or the people in them.

"Of course." Dumbledore answered. "But I must advice against it Harry. He will use you and..."

"Throw me aside? Like you are going to do?" For a moment Harry felt the anger again, but he banished it to the back of his mind. The sugary sweet smile came back." Thank you so much for your concern, professor, and for your consent."

After those words, he got up from the chair once more. "Let's go Tom, I believe we need to move my stuff."

They left the headmaster's office, without saying another word. They had won this round, but next time it wouldn't be this easy.

"That was quit a speech in there." Tom remarked five minutes later. "Is your Slytherin-side awakening?"

Harry made a soft noise, not wanting to reply to that question.

"Using his weakness against him, was quit a cunning move." The Slytherin Heir continued. "And your acting was not half bad either. With a bit of practise, you can become truly good."

Harry tried to shut those words out. The sorting hat had almost placed him in Slytherin, Dumbledore had told him it was because of his choice that he was placed in Gryffindor. Thinking back on it now, it didn't make him feel any better. His character and skill-sets where those of a Slytherin, the basics at least. Only by living in the house of the lions, he had learned to be one of them. Brave and stupid.

He was still a Gryffindor at heart, but that didn't mean he couldn't use his Slytherin-half to gain what he needed at this very moment. Tom was right, dragging the Slytherin into the den of lions, was a bad idea. Placing a half lion, half snake between a all house full of snakes, with the biggest snake of all as his protector, that could work.

"...but you will have to learn to protect yourself with actual words, in stead of made-up ones." Tom was still speaking. "Fruitloop is not going to get you anywhere in my house."

"You're just saying that because you don't know what it means." Harry yawned. He was actually tired, even though it was only midday. He stopped in front of the fat lady. "Mimbulus Mimbeltonia."

A moment later the both of them stepped through the portrait-hole. Harry was glad it was midday and most people were in the great hall, for lunch. Most, but not all. Hermione was the first to look up, when she heard someone come in.

"Harry." She got to her feet and wanted to come his way, until she saw Tom. Immediately an awkward silence fell.

Ron's ears were red, the boy looked angry. "What is he doing here?"

Harry sighed. He had hoped to have to conversation tomorrow, or maybe even the day after that, but not after that tiring and useless dialogue with the headmaster. "His soul is bound to mine, he is not going anywhere." He simply stated. "And if you two would excuse us, we have a lot to do."

"Harry, don't go." Hermione grabbed his wrist, looking into his eyes. "Please, talk to us."

"I really don't feel like it right now." He yawned again, tracing a hand through his already messy hair. "Can we do this later?"

"Please Harry." She said softer. "We need to understand." Here eyes rested upon Tom for a moment, but she quickly looked back at him.

Harry was surprised the Slytherin heir hadn't said anything yet. Usually Tom had a comment on everything and everyone. Still he didn't looked at his companion, he knew there would be a bored or irritated look in those dark eyes, even though Tom posture would be calm and patient.

"There is not much to understand Hermione. He offered his help to defeat Voldemort. I accepted it." Harry said. "He was there, at the moment no one else was, when I needed to talk to someone, and get a straight -not entirely useful- answer."

"You could have come to us." She said softly. "We are your friends, have been for the passed four years."

He yanked his wrist out of Hermione's grip, his eyes went cold and distant. "Friends don't shut each other out." He hissed. "They don't leave each other locked up in a house, all alone, without a scarp of news." He shook his head. "I don't care what Dumbledore said. You could have told me something! No, always the same letters, the same useless answers. And while I was stuck there, you two were together, having fun, knowing everything. Did you laugh?" He asked.

"No Harry..." Her voice was soft now, tears formed in her eyes. "We just...we couldn't. Dumbledore had forbidden it."

"Oh yes, keeping secrets from me, is what he does best!" His magic flared out of control. The window to his right, burst into a thousand pieces. "Let's leave Harry all on his own. I'm sure it will be fun to see how he gets attack by dementors and almost kicked out of school! You have no idea what I've been through!"

"Harry." A hand was placed on his shoulder. "Calm down. There is no use in destroying the common room."

"We're sorry." Hermoine sobbed, her face was wet with tears. "We wanted to be there for you."

Ron stepped in, placing an arm around her shoulder and pulling her closer. "That was uncalled for mate." the red-head said. "It's not our fault you were locked up in that house."

"But you didn't do much about it either, now did you?" Harry could feel the anger underneath crawling underneath is skin, wanting to get out again.

"What did you expect from us?" The red-head asked. "We can't just jump on a broom and fly you away from those muggles. YouKnowWho is after you...was after you. You're already on his team now."

Ron looked at Tom with disgust.

"You know what Ron." Harry hissed. "Drop dead. I don't need either of you. I have managed perfectly on my own."

He left looked at the both of them for a moment longer, before he stalked up the stairs and into their dormitory. The faster he packed, faster he was out of here. And to think he was doing all of this for them. They could at least show some gratitude.

He grabbed some of is stuff, and dropped it in his trunk. "You know what." He said, while throwing some more stuff in his trunk, breaking a vial of ink in the process. "I'm actually glad we're leaving this place."

Tom sighed and grabbed his wrist again. "Calm down, you are giving me a headache with all those emotions." The Slytherin pushed him on the bed, and grabbed his wand. A moment later all of his stuff was levitation and folded neatly into his trunk. The vial of ink repaired itself.

"I understand how you are feeling Harry." The Slytherin Heir spoke, while levitating the trunk into the air. "But they are right. This is not their doing, it is Dumbledore's. You need to learn to control that temper."

"I just feel angry all the time." Harry said softly, his head hurt. "They don't understand what it is to be me. I'm always on my own, fighting on my own. People look at me, like I'm from an other species, because of that stupid scar on my head."

"You are on your own, not because of your scar, but because you are different from them, more powerful." Tom said.

"I'm not that powerful." He got up from the bed, looking out of the window for a moment. "You are powerful, and Dumbledore is. I'm just lucky."

"Yes that to." The Slytherin Heir admitted. "But you are powerful as well. When you get angry I can feel your magic. It became even stronger since that ritual. Perhaps your raw magic was released."

For the first time during their conversation Harry looked straight at Tom. How could his magic be released so suddenly? Did it have something to do with their connection? Not that it mattered, he still didn't believe he was as strong as Dumbledore, Voldemort or Tom. It was his luck that saved him all those times he duelled Voldemort, not extraordinary power or skills.

"Let's go." He murmured. He wanted to get out of here. Right now it reminded him of Ron and Hermione and the pain that came with them. He followed Tom and his trunk back into the commonroom. His two best friends were still there. Ron however did not look up but Hermione did.

"Where are you going?" She asked softly, her eyes on his trunk.

"Somewhere else. Tom can't stay here, neither can I." And with those words, without looking back at them, he left the Gryffindor commonroom and his friends.


	26. Chapter 26

If I had to name this chapter -which is surprisingly long!- I would name it 'Prince of Slytherin'. Next chapter will be about Harry during those days. Enjoy!

* * *

Tom grinned when he saw Harry's face. It had only been two minutes, and the boy was already in trouble. Slytherins were ruthless, especially against outsiders. But then again Harry wasn't really an outsider, his other side was just hidden, overwhelmed by the Gryffindor-side of the boy.

"As if we would allow a lion to sleep in our den." The blond Malfoy hissed, two of his huge friends backed him up. This hierarchy was clear to him. The current prince of Slytherin was Draco Malfoy, the grandson of his nemesis during his schooldays, Abraxas Malfoy. The blonde was an exact copy of his grandfather, not only in appearance, but in acting and wording as well.

"You don't have a choice. As I am bound to Tom, and Tom is a Slytherin." Harry bit back, his hand inches away from his wand. Tom watched, without saying anything. His golden boy had to prove himself worthy to the snakes, otherwise they would just attack him in his sleep, or something similar horrible.

"I don't care." The Malfoy Heir said. "You are not welcome. Go back to your idiotic friends."

For a moment Tom thought Harry would yell, and tell the Malfoy boy his friends weren't idiotic, but the Gryffindor didn't. "Oh, and I thought you didn't like Dumbledore, and would do everything you could to sabotage him." Harry shrugged. "Apparently I was wrong. You are probably to scared to go against the will of the headmaster."

For a moment amusement crossed his face. Soon Harry would be a true Slytherin, an other step away from Dumbledore and his so called 'light'-side. He watched the Malfoy Heir. The blonde seemed to think about it. The Slytherin prince would have to play this out just right, otherwise others might see it as a weakness and a chance to take over Malfoy's place in this hierarchy, not that Malfoy would keep his position for much longer. Soon he would reclaim what was rightfully his.

"Why would you of all people, go against Dumbledore's wished. Weren't you his puppy? His posterboy?" Malfoy asked.

"I was, but I have learned a few things since then. I no longer trust him." Harry said, looking directly into the light grey eyes of the Malfoy Heir. "Besides, the sorting hat wanted me in Slytherin anyway, so I might as well try it now."

Ah yes, Harry's little secret. Not even his friends knew that the boy was originally meant for Slytherin. A choice did not chance your qualities and character, it only changed your initial path.

"The sorting hat wanted to put you in Slytherin?" A lot of Slytherins looked at the Boy Who Lived with disbelieve but Harry just nodded. Once again Malfoy thought things through. It didn't take him long to reach the only logical conclusion. Not only would the boy fortify his position in this hierarchy by going against Dumbledore's wished, but Harry would also own the Malfoy Heir a debt, which could come in handy later. Cunning little snake this one.

"I will help you this once." Malfoy choice his words carefully. "You and your boyfriend can stay here, but you owe me one, Potter."

"Yeah fine." Harry shrugged again. "Just show us to our room. I will not bother any of you, if you won't bother me."

"Blaise, show Potter our dormitory." Malfoy's cold grey eyes turned towards him. Tom just smiled slightly. "And who might you be anyway? I have never seen you here before."

It was to soon to reveal his true colours, but that didn't mean he couldn't mess with Malfoy's head just a little. Tom was confident that the little Slytherin prince had heard about him through is grandfather, or father. "Tom Riddle." He simply said. His name had the exact effect he had hoped for, Malfoy turned white like a sheet for a moment, his eyes big.

However Tom did not wait for a reply, he followed Harry and Blaise to the dormitories, a plan was already forming in his mind. He needed the full support and loyalty of the house of Slytherin if he wanted to succeed.

* * *

Step one. Gain support. This was an easy feat with his charm and skills, but he needed to be careful. If Malfoy found out, it would be a lot harder and a lot less clean to take over his position. He would not be the only one fighting for it.

The only problem was Harry. He couldn't leave his Gryffindor Golden boy alone, but taking the boy with him, was not such a good idea. Even after Harry had proven himself to the Slytherins, the boy was still an outsider, they did not trust Harry.

But for the time being, he had no other choice. Until he got stronger, he and Harry were bound to the diary and to each other.

It was after breakfast the very next day, he made his move. The first thing he had to do, was dividing Malfoy's little group. Going after Crabbe and Goyle was not only a stupid move, but also useless. Those two baboons were nothing more then bodyguards, they had no real say in anything. No, he had to go after the smart ones, the ones that understood the politics in the Slytherin house. Blaise Zabini and Pansy Parkinson.

Aside from his intelligence, Blaise would be the easy one. Tom wasn't stupid, he had notices how the Slytherin had watched Harry the evening before. The boy was obviously gay, and attracted to Harry. Even though Tom thought it was a bit weird for a Slytherin like Zabini to fall for a typical Gryffindor like his Golden boy, it did come in handy.

Tom had watched the boy during breakfast. Sitting at the Gryffindor table had his advantages. He could observe the whole Slytherin table, without anyone actually commenting about it. He listened to Harry's conversation, with his two former best friends, with only half a ear.

"Where have you been mate?" The red-heads sleepy voice asked.

"I made new sleeping arrangements with Dumbledore." Was all Harry said.

Tom rolled his eyes. Those two idiots had to know everything. He was glad Harry kept his mount shut for the time being. He tilled his head when he noticed the little argument between Blaise and Malfoy. Perhaps this was going to be even easier then he thought. He wasn't going to use Harry until absolutely necessary. Blaise was a friend of Malfoy, but it seemed like they were not always on the same side. Showing interest in the boy might be all he needed to do.

"Why don't you sleep in our dormitory Harry?" The annoying girl asked.

"Because I bound to Tom, you know that. Harry sounded bored and annoyed as well. "No one is going to except the Heir of Slytherin in our commonroom, especially not Ginny."

For a moment Tom got distracted. Ginny? The red haired girl he used to open the Chamber of Secrets? His eyes left Malfoy and Blaise for a moment, in search of the girl. It didn't take him long to find her. She was sitting at the end of the table, with a couple of other girls. But while those girl were chatting and giggling, the Weasley girl was staring at him.

He looked into her brown eyes for a few moments, before smiling. Her face turned pale. Seconds later she grabbed her things and left the great hall. Poor thing.

"Tom!" Harry hissed. "Leave her alone."

He smirked. "I could not help myself."

"You never can. Just leave her alone, okay?"

"Fine." He waved it away, looking back at Blaise. The boy just got up from the table. Ready to leave, all on his own. Perfect. He got up as well, grabbing Harry's wrist and pulling the boy with him.

"Let go! I'm not done yet." The boy protested. A few people looked at him.

"Be silent Harry dear, you are causing a scene." He simply said, still dragging the boy along with him. Outside the great hall, he got a glimpse of Blaise heading down to the dungeons. They had to catch up with the Slytherin before the boy got into the commonroom, there was no place to subtly talk down there.

They caught up with the other Slytherin fast enough. Tom let go of Harry's wrist, before walking next to Blaise. He put a concerned look upon his face. "Blaise, was it not?" He asked. "I saw your argument with Malfoy, are you al right?"

The boy looked at him. "Yes, and I am fine."

"Are you sure?" He traced a hand through his hair. "It looked like quit an argument from where I was sitting."

Blaise eyed him suspiciously. "Draco sometimes acts like the spoiled little brat everyone thinks him to be. It annoys me."

"I can understand." His voice softened. "It is hard to go against someone like Draco, but your heart tells you to do something else, does it not?"

Tom could guess what the argument was about. It was not that hard to understand, because it was also his back-up plan. The only thing standing between the friendschip of Malfoy and Zabini was Harry. Zabini was not one to argue about other things then matters of the heart with someone as powerful as Malfoy.

"What do you want Riddle?" The other Slytherin stopped in the middle of the corridor.

"Nothing." He said casually, not looking directly at the boy now. "I just want to protect certain assets of mine, but I am afraid Malfoy is going to make that very hard." His eyes found the bright green ones of Harry. The Gryffindor was looking curious at him, but held his mouth shut

Blaise followed his gaze toward Harry. It didn't take the Slytherin long to understand what he was after. "I will help you to keep those assets save, but I want something in return."

"I am sure we can arrange something." He used his most charming smile. "After all we want the same, do we not?"

"I believe we do." Blaise nodded slightly, before walking on. A moment later the boy disappeared behind a corner.

Tom looked at Harry, the Gryffindor raised an eyebrow. "I know what you are doing Tom. I don't want any part in it, is that clear? You can build your little empire without me."

"But I am doing this all for you, Harry dear." He purred.

"Yeah right, not even Zabini believes that." Harry said back, before turning around. "Come on, I'll never hear the end of it, if I'm to late for my lesson with Sirius."

Tom smirked. Oh, but that was just the point, Zabini did believe it. The fact that Harry hadn't noticed the Slytherin was in love with him, made him look like the idiotic dumb Gryffindor the boy pretended to be. But that would change, once Harry saw how well he fitted in Slytherin.

* * *

He had left Harry and Sirius in the room of requirements. The bond allowed them to be a couple of feet away from one an other, which was perfect for him. He waited outside the room, leaning against the wall. He had left a note for Miss Parkinson, in which he asked her to meet him in this very corridor at this very time.

The only question was, would she show up?

She and Blaise were key-aspects in his take-over. The younger Slytherins would follow whomever came out on top, just to make sure their presence remained unnoticed by the bigger fish. The older Slytherins would do the same, but for a different reason. They were smart enough to support the strongest, because of the influence they would gain, once they came into this person's favour.

"Riddle."

"Hello Miss Parkison." He said, smiling at her, much like he did at Blaise earlier. "You look lovely today, is that a new scarf you are wearing?"

The girl blushed for just a second. It was so easy to charm a young woman like her. The pug faced girl wasn't ugly, but she was not going to win a beauty-pageant either. The scarf was just a guess, which she wouldn't notice, because she was to charmed by his smile and his good looks.

"Did you call me up here to flirt with me, Riddle?" She asked, a bit nicer then she was earlier.

"I can hardly give you compliments, when your boyfriend is around." The smile on his face became a little less bright, to show her his displeasure.

"Draco?" She asked. "He is not my boyfriend."

"I am glad to hear that." He said with a slight hint of relief in his voice. "I heard some girl from Ravenclaw boast to her friend about her evening with Draco. I did not want to see you hurt."

Her face turned white first, before turning red with anger. "Are you lying to me?" She asked. "Because if you are, you are going to regret it."

Perhaps she was not as stupid as she looked. "I am just telling you what I heard." He said, shrugging slightly. "Whether the girl was telling the truth or not, I do not know. Snakes look out for one another."

"Is that why you called me here?" She sounded more amused then anything.

"Perhaps I would not mind overstepping your boundaries." He said softly, stepping closer to her.

"My boundaries?" Her cheeks turned slightly red, but other then that, she remained calm. "Aren't you Potter's boyfriend?"

"Whatever gave you that idea?" Tom kept his voice soft and almost seductive. He needed her, in order for his plan to work. If she followed him, the rest of her group would follow him, instead of protecting Malfoy, like she would do otherwise. Then it would only be a matter of showing his skills, his superiority.

She smiled, in what she thought was a seductive way. "Ever since you appeared, you have been by Potter's side, this is the first time I've seen you on your own."

He took yet an other step towards her. It was her turn to lean against the wall, cheeks still flushed, but now her breath became more rapid as well. Yet he did not touch her. He placed a hand next to her head, but never touching her. "Harry is mine, but not in de way you see it. We have a connection, that can never be broken. But I don not want to talk about him."

Pansy's breath stopped for just a second. She reached her hand out to him, placing it softly on his face. Tom shuddered, which she took as a good sign, but he just loathed the touch of her hand, the closeness of her body. Yet he kept his goal in mind, this was one game he had to play out.

"Tom, what the hell is going on? I can fe..." Harry had opened the door of the room of requirements, stopping dead in his tracks, when the boy saw them. "Merlin's beard, can't you do that somewhere else?! I'm trying to concentrate over here."

Tom looked at his Golden boy, annoyed because the boy couldn't have picked a worse time to come out, but also relieved, because his body and mind could not handle the touch of something so vile and disgusting as Pansy Parkinson. "It seems our little get-together was interrupted."

"It seems so." Pansy shot daggers at Harry, before stepping away from Tom. "Perhaps we can try this again some other time." She winked and left.

Tom watched her go. If it were up to him, she would never come near him again, but for the time being he had to deal with it. If his plan worked -and it always did- it wouldn't take long anyway.

"The thing with Blaise I get." Harry said, almost hugging himself. "But this weird thing with her...She's ...I don't know. She gives me the creeps."

Tom watched his companion closely. The boy picked up his feelings quit well, their bond was not weakening, it was growing stronger. "Is that because she is a Slytherin, or because she is detestable?"

"I manage to get along with you, so I'm guessing neither." Harry shuddered one last time, before looking at him. "What are you plotting anyway?"

"You will see." And the boy would, soon.

* * *

Step two. Make your rival look weak. This was not something easily done, especially when you didn't know your rival that well. But it was no problem for Tom. He had already noticed how similar Draco was to his grandfather. They probably had the same weaknesses as well.

Abraxas had been a strong, fearsome wizard, with a lot of skill and knowledge, both about magic and politics. But the Malfoy had also been a spoiled little brat, who always got everything he desired. The Malfoy name proceeded him. All Slytherins respected the old and rich pureblooded families -Like the Malfoys and the Blacks- but that was because they did not know any different, this was how their world worked.

Tom was going to change that once again. It was to early for a head-on confrontation with Draco Malfoy. He might have been that foolish when he was in his first year, but he had seen how much trouble followed. Not every Slytherin had accepted him right away, because he was only a small child with a legendary heritage. Boasting about his Slytherin Lineage now, would not be a good idea. He would keep that ace up his sleeve for now.

There were a couple of things he could do. For some he needed Harry's help, but he knew the boy wasn't going to help him, not even when he asked nicely. So he had to focus on the other things. Starting small seemed like a good plan.

Christmas-break was coming up in two weeks. He wanted to destroy Malfoy before everyone went home for the holidays.

Despite the fact that Harry didn't want to help, the boy told him useful things. Like how good Malfoy was in potions. He would have to destroy that reputation. That is why he chose potions-class for his first little scheme. It was an easy way to humiliate Malfoy in front of his classmates.

"Harry, can I borrow your wand?" He asked.

"Why? You don't need it for this potion." The boy said, still concentrating on his own cauldron. "When are you going to get your own wand?"

"My wand is currently in the hands of an old snake-like version of myself." Tom didn't want an other wand then his own, but it seemed like there was no other choice. "I will get one over the holidays, if that pleases you, but for the time being, I need to use your wand."

"Fine." The Gryffindor gave him his wand. "I thought your wandless magic was so great."

"No need for comments Harry dear." He whispered in a sugary-sweet tone. The boy muttered some more, but went back to his potion, leaving Tom to his plotting.

He watched Malfoy carefully from the corner of his eyes. The Slytherin prince had to turn his head but once. That moment came not long after. Tom smirked once again, while he waved his wand underneath the table. Casting an exchange-spell non-verbally was not that hard. One of the green beans, that Malfoy had cut up so carefully, turned into a purple one. Without really looking Malfoy threw the pieces of the beans into the cauldron.

It was only a matter of time before the potion would explode, or something similar. Tom concentrated on his own potion, it was almost finished, and it would be perfect, seeing how had done all of this before. He had been the best in all of his classes, that was not about to change just because more then fifty years had passed.

Tom was pouring his potion into a small vial, when Malfoy's cauldron exploded. The dark brown liquid, which had to be grass-green, spread across the room. Tom covered his skin with his cloak just in time. It would have been weird, if he was the only Slytherin without any of the liquid on his clothes.

He turned around, a surprised look in his eyes. Malfoy screamed. The boy's whole face and upper body was covered in puss. Crabbe was covered as well. Miss Parkinson had some of it in her hair and on the left side of her face. Only the Gryffindors had been spared, but only because they were sitting on the other side of the classroom, protected by a wall of Slytherin students. And Harry.

"What did you do?" The boy asked.

He looked at his companion. Much like Parkinson Harry's hair and left side were also covered. Tom couldn't resist, he laughed.

"Do you think this is funny, Mister Riddle?" Snape had stopped at their table, looking intently at him, with those black pools of utter despair.

"Sir?" He questioned. His face was a mask of composure and tranquillity, but his eyes were murderous. A glint of red appeared in them. For a moment Snape looked shocked, before continuing his bat-like stroll to Mafloy's table.

No one knew exactly what had happened. Most of the other students simply thought Malfoy had made a mistake, which cost the boy dearly. Not only was his reputation as potion-brewer partially destroyed, but his Slytherin classmates practically hated him.

The potion had turned their skin bright blue were it had hit them -Tom had hoped for boils, but this was good as well-, even madame Pomfrey was unable to remove it. It would take days, if not weeks before the colour would completely disappear. The only one who wasn't complaining was Harry. Unlike the others, the boy's blue colour was already fading, only the stripes in his hair were still evidently there.

The very next day Malfoy came towards them, but the blonde didn't look at Tom, only at Harry. "I know this is your doing Potter."

Harry looked up, for just a moment, before turning back to his book. "And why would I do this, and turn myself blue in the process? It's not my fault you are suddenly unable to make a good potion."

"Because otherwise everyone would know it was your fault." The blonde hissed back.

"Ofcourse, why didn't I think of that myself!" Harry exclaimed. "Turning the whole Slytherin body against me, while staying in their dormitory, is a very smart move!"

The boy got up to his feet, standing almost face to face with Malfoy. "Unlike you I don't do such things. Look in the mirror Malfoy, the only one at fault is you. Everyone makes mistakes, learn to deal with it, or go back to your daddy." With those words Harry left for the boy's dormitory.

Once again Harry had helped Tom's cause, and he doubted it was without the boy's knowledge. Why else would Harry protect him? No, his little Golden boy was turning more into a Slytherin which each passing day. The boy was thriving under the pressure that the snakes put on him.

With this Tom's campaign had truly began. With each and every move he made, the Slytherins became more aware of the power-shift in their dormitory. Malfoy began to lose his credibility. Even though every single snake knew someone was destroying the Malfoy Heir, they did not do anything about it. Most of them waited to see how this would play out, and who was behind it. Some actually believed it was Harry, but the Gryffindor did nothing and said nothing about it, not even when Malfoy's chicken turned into a ferret. That was also when Malfoy found out it was not Harry, but Tom behind all of it.

* * *

Step three. Total annihilation. Malfoy's position had weakened, the time had come for a direct confrontation. But Tom had to make sure he was not the one who started it, then he would look to eager. Eagerness meant you wanted something badly, which was a weakness. Everything you wanted, could be taken away from you just as easily. The only thing he could do, was wait for the Slytherin prince to challenge him.

At first Tom thought Malfoy was to afraid of him, something that could help him win the confrontation, but that kept Malfoy from confronting him directly. The boy had quickly realised that taunting Harry wasn't going to help, especially because Harry was already used to it, and had build a wall around himself, ignoring each and every person during his time in the Slytherin commonroom.

Later on Tom realised Malfoy was preparing himself, gaining intelligence about someone, who had lived over fifty years ago, not the easiest job, but then again the blonde had his grandfather and father.

It was two days before Christmas-break, when Malfoy finally showed the courage. This was the moment every single snake had been waiting for.

"Riddle." Everyone became quiet, gazing at the two Slytherins. Tom slowly looked up from his own book, marking the page were he had stopped.

"Malfoy." He returned, looking curiously behind the blonde. "Where are your two bodyguards. Crabbe and Goyle?" He tiled his head slightly. "Oh that's right, I have sent them on an errand."

It was a lie ofcoure. He simply made sure those two baboons were out of his way when he confabulated with the Malfoy Heir. He had been putting a sleeping draught in their dessert for the past four days now. They were stupid enough to not notice it. It had actually been Harry's idea.

Malfoy's face turned slightly red, but he regained his composure rather fast. "They are useless anyway." The blonde said, dismissing Tom's words. "I want to talk about something else."

"Then please do. As you might have noticed I am rather busy." Tom looked at his book again, turning a page. He hard soft gasps from some of the attendants. It was rather rude to turn your head away in the middle of a conversation, showing once again that Tom did not care much about Malfoy's position.

"I was wondering who you really were." The blonde continued, setting himself down in the chair across Tom, looking like he wanted to have a friendly conversation about Quiddich or homework."Is it true that your father was a muggle?"

For a moment Tom's eyes widened. Nobody was suppose to know that. Harry knew, ofcourse, but the Gryffindor would never tell something like that to Malfoy, now would he? Not even Abraxas had know that little fact about him. He turned another page, his body remained relaxed. When he did look up, his eyes were empty, devoted of all emotions.

"It is true that I have killed him." Tom simply stated.

"It is true that your mother is a filthy little bloodtraitor." Malfoy said. "A whore for muggles."

Malfoy was trying to get him angry, so that he would slip up and make mistakes. But it was hard to defend a woman, who was so weak, that she died during his birth. He never had the chance to love her, and he never would.

"At least my family does not become crazy because of all the inbreeding." Tom closed his book, yawning slightly. "How is auntie Bellatrix? Has Azkaban made her mad yet? Oh wait, I forgot, she already was."

"She is a talented witch, who could duel circles around you. With such power, madness is forgiven." The blonde shrugged. "Marrying a muggle however, is unforgivable."

"It has got nothing to do with power. It is a disease in the Black family, most of them are crazy." Destroying Draco's family was fun, especially because he could trash the mutt a bit as well. "Sirius Black for example. He is a rabid dog, mad as they come. Now that I think about it, I believe he was a blood-traitor as well, a proud Gryffindor."

"Could you please leave my godfather out of this." Harry intervened. "Destroy each other if you must, but leave my family out of it."

Tom ignored him. "And then there is Andromeda. She married a muggle, they even had a child, your sweet niece. If this infection has spread to both of your aunts, I doubt your mother is free of it."

"Those blood-traitors no longer belong to our family, unlike your family, we cut away the infections." The Malfoy heir had anger in his voice now, but concealed it well.

"Are you implying that I should have died at birth?" Tom simply asked, tracing a hand through his hair. "If I am such a stain on Slytherin records, why then don't you kill me yourself?"

Now even Harry became quiet. The whole room was holding his breath. "Or are you afraid, Draco?" Tom purred.

"No." The blonde had turned even paler then he was before, his mask cracked a little, showing the fear only in his light grey eyes.

"You should be." Tom whispered, before turning to parsletongue. "_After all you know exactly who I am._"

The silence was broken by soft whispers, and hushed conversations. The Heir of Slytherin had returned, they all knew that now. The only thing Tom had to do now, was seal his victory by chasing Malfoy away.

His plan made sure he could do just that. A snake slithered from underneath the couch, past Harry's feet and up on Malfoy's chair.

"_Where the hell did you get that!_" Harry asked, slipping into parsletongue as well. It didn't surprise Tom the whole school already knew of the Gryffindor's hidden talent, after all Ginny had told him three years ago that the whole school was convinced that Harry was the Heir of Slytherin.

"_Conjured it with your wand a few hours ago. Is she not beautiful?_" He looked at the snake with affection in his eyes. "_Do not worry, she will not harm you._"

His eyes left Malfoy's scared face, to look at his companion. "_I'm not afraid she will harm me. I'm afraid what you will make her do to Draco. He might be a git, but he doesn't deserve this._"

Tom was aware that the whole commonroom was listening to their hisses, waiting to see what would happen. "_I was going to scare him, maybe leave a scar on that pretty face of his._"

Their hissing turned the blonde even more anxious then he was before. The boy's body was trembling, unable to move, because of the snake on his lap. Her yellow eyes, never left Malfoy's.

"_You promised you would not hurt any of my friends._" The Gryffindor said, his voice trembling almost as hard as Malfoy's body did.

Tom shrugged slightly. "He is no friend of yours, so I can do as I please." He switched to English on purpose, so that the whole commonroom, and especially Malfoy, could hear what they were saying. "But I am willing to make a deal." He purred, leaning closer to his Golden boy.

"What kind of deal?" Harry's bright green eyes never left his. The boy was determined to save everyone, even the ones that hurt him the most, even his arch-enemy. Some would say the boy was stupid, but Tom knew better. It was the only way Harry could feel better about himself, and the losses the boy had suffered.

Tom leaned in even closer, whispering in Harry's ear. "Become a Slytherin and I promise I will not harm sweet Draco."

Harry's eyes widened. It was a beautiful sight. Tom simply loved the shade of the boy's eyes: Killingcurse green. The struggle inside of Harry, showed in those eyes, even though Tom could feel it as well. They were still connected, Harry's feelings were no mystery to him. Resentment, fear and doubt rushed through his mind, every single thing the boy felt, filled him. There was anger as well, but it was subdued.

"Fine." The Gryffindor finally spoke. "But you have to leave him alone completely. I think you have made your point by now. I hope your happy." The boy got to his feet, grabbed his stuff and tried to leave to commonroom, until Harry remembered he couldn't leave without Tom. Harry turned towards the boy's dormitory end slammed the door shut.

"Be glad that Harry is such a hero, Draco." The snake disappeared into thin air. "Now go and release your friends, and remember where your place is."

That evening gained him more then he title 'The Prince of Slytherin', it also turned Harry one step further from Dumbledore, and into his embrace.


	27. Chapter 27

_I had promised you Umbridge, but there are a few things that I want to do first. And She can't do anything over Christmas-break. So she will have to wait just a little bit longer ^^ I'm on a roll this week. Enjoy the next chapter! And once again, thank you for the reviews and support!_

* * *

"Sorry I'm late Sirius!" Harry panted, when he entered the room of requirements. His godfather was standing a few feet away, every single muscle of his body tensed, his eyes dark and angry. Harry immediately took a step back, bumping into Tom, who entered right after him.

"Please watch where you are going, Harry." The Slytherin said annoyed.

Harry didn't react. Tom could complain all he liked, there were other things more urgent right now, tempering Sirius anger was one of them. It scared Harry to see such a murderous look in the eyes of his godfather.

"Is everything al right, Sirius?" He asked carefully, still not stepping closer to his godfather.

"Al right?" The Black asked. "Al right?! How dare you even ask that?!"

Sirius was defiantly infuriated. He had never seen his godfather show any real emotions, they were always concealed, behind a laugh, or empty words. The man might be a Gryffindor, but he had a typical Slytherin trait: A mask to conceal your true feelings.

"Yesterday you kidnap my little brother, without my consent! Then, when I try to find you, you turn up in the hospital wing, half dead, with a huge cut in your wrist and him at your side!" Sirius yelled, pointing at Tom. "When I finally think you are save, you disappear again, leaving nothing but a note!"

Suddenly Sirius his voice became softer. "You never came back Harry. What do you want from me? I can't just sit back and relax, while you are doing who-knows-what. I don't like it if you run of with him over there. Who knows in what kind of danger he put bring you."

Harry swallowed. Perhaps it was a little bit thoughtless and selfish of him. His godfather really cared about him, and was genuinely worried. "I'm sorry." He said softly. "I didn't want to worry you. I promised I would help Tom, there are so many things we need to do. I couldn't wait for your approval to see Regulus, we needed the locket."

"I know." Sirius sighed. "I just wish you would talk to me more. I am here to help you."

"I really am sorry." He said again, stepping closer to his godfather now. "I promise I will let you know If I'm going to run of again."

A moment later his godfather pulled him in his arms. Harry rested his head against the man's shoulder, closing his eyes. This was what it must feel like to have a father, someone who really cared about you, and would do everything to keep you safe.

"You have to apologize to Remus." Sirius said softly. "He had been lying on the ground for more then an hour when I found him. He was not that happy when I released him of your hex."

Harry looked sheepishly, taking a step back. He had totally forgotten about Remus. It wasn't really fair to hex him in the first place, but explaining would have been harder.

"I am going out, have fun with your lesson." Harry turned around, just in time to see the Slytherin leave the room of requirements. Tom didn't go far, otherwise he would have felt it. His eyes turned towards Sirius.

"That sneaky bastard is up to something." He mumbled.

"Ofcourse he is." Sirius eyes turned dark. "He is a Slytherin."

For a moment they looked at each other, before they started to laugh. It wasn't even funny, but it lightened the mood quit a bit.

"Seriously thought." Harry continued, when he had his emotions under control again. "He was talking to Blaise Zabini earlier, a Slytherin in my year, one of the best friends of Malfoy."

"Well, whatever he is plotting can't be worse then what his older counterpart managed to do." Sirius answered, while clearing the room of all unnecessary things.

"I hope not." Harry muttered. Tom was brilliant, and unlike his older counterpart, still sane. It wouldn't be hard for the Slytherin to outwit Voldemort, take over his place even. Harry shuddered, such thoughts gave him the chills.

"Al right Harry, we are going to pick up where we left off." Sirius proclaimed. "Close your eyes and concentrate. I know occlumency is hard for you, but you need to learn how to protect your mind."

He hated this part, he really hated it. But he had to learn it, otherwise Voldemort, or Dumbledore, could barge in and take what they needed, drive him insane even, if they wished it. Putting walls around his thoughts, and innermost feelings was always hard, especially because locking Tom out, didn't feel good. It made him sick and gave him a huge headache afterwards.

But he was glad it was Sirius entering his mind, and not someone else, like Tom, or even worst, Snape. He shuddered, locking that feeling behind his walls, together with his emotions. Sirius had a hard time entering his mind this time, but the man got behind his defences nonetheless.

When he opened his eyes again, he felt sick to his stomach, his head hurt as well, but he didn't show it.

"Very good Harry, you are getting better!" Sirius complimented him. "When your ready we'll go again."

He nodded, catching his breath for a moment, before closing his eyes again. He built his defences once more only to be shattered a moment later when he felt a strong feeling of loathing. Disgust even. But that's not what got his attention, it was the fear behind it.

There was something wrong with Tom. Sirius entered his mind, when he wanted to run out and see if the Slytherin was okay. A vision of Dumbledore appeared before him. The conversation from the day before was played before his eyes. Every word, as clear as day. His heartbeat went faster, that was not something he wanted Sirius to see, he had buried that deepest of al.

A moment later he was standing in the room of requirements again, with Sirius opposite of him. The man looked distraught. His face was paler then before.

Harry ignored it for the time being, running out into the corridor. " Tom, what the hell is going on? I can fe..." What he saw then shocked him to his core, but it didn't take him long to recover. "Merlin's beard, can't you do that somewhere else?! I'm trying to concentrate over here."

The words spoken by Parkinson and Tom never reached him. He just couldn't wrap his mind around this. He knew Tom was handsome and charming, and almost always got what he wanted, but seeing him with a girl, Pansy Parkinson on top of that, just didn't fit. The fear, he had felt earlier, had been Tom's, he was certain of that. But what would scare the Slytherin so much that he let it slip past his barrier? Harry could never feel Tom's deepest feelings, only when he was amused or annoyed, but never things like this.

He looked up when he felt a gaze upon him. "The thing with Blaise I get." He said, wrapping his arm around himself, shaking the feeling of. "But this weird thing with her...She's … I don't know. She gives me the creeps."

"Is that because she is a Slytherin, or because she is detestable?"

It was because of Tom's feelings. But that was not something he was about to say. The Slytherin didn't need to know what he had felt. "I manage to get along with you, so I'm guessing neither." He shrugged, trying to sound casual. "What are you plotting anyway?"

That was a subtle way to change the topic, even Tom wouldn't pick up on that. Unless he really sounded distressed, he hoped not.

"You will see." Was all Tom said.

Harry looked at him for a little while longer, before re-entering the room of requirements. Sirius was still waiting for him. He clearly had been thinking.

"Harry...are you really staying in the Slytherin dormitories?"

"You are worrying about that?" Harry raised an eyebrow. He had thought that Sirius would be more concerned about the whole Tom-Voldemort equation.

"I don't trust Riddle, but he is not like Voldemort, otherwise you would already be dead." Sirius shrugged. "But I do not think it's a good idea to stay between those snakes. They will change you Harry. I have seen it with my brother. Something eventually snaps."

"I'm not your brother, Sirius, and I'm not eleven any more." Regulus was raised with the idea that purebloods were better then others, that Voldemort had the right ideas. Harry knew better. Staying in the Slytherin dorms, would effect him, he wasn't so naive to think he could stay in a snake's lair without changing slightly, even if it was only to defend himself. But he wasn't going to turn into one of Tom's minions.

"You can stay here with me." His godfather offered.

"I can deal with Tom, I love to be around you, but having you both in the same room, other then for practise, for more then five minutes...it will kill me. Or rather I would love to kill myself by the end of the fifth minute." Harry said dryly, looking at his godfather.

"I did not think of It that way." Sirius placed a hand on his shoulder. "Please be careful Harry. I trust you, one-hundredth percent, It's him I don't trust, and those sneaky bastards."

"I know, Sirius." He smiled. "It's going to be just fine, trust me."

Sirius grinned slightly. "But seriously, Tom?"

"I know." Harry groaned. "Don't ask."

* * *

Tom's little scheme was a total fiasco. Harry looked at himself in the mirror. His face was blue, he even had blue in his hair! There were a million things Tom could have done to take down Malfoy's reputation. But no! It had to be something that gave him a permanent colour.

He tried to wash it off with a lot of soap and water, but it didn't work. Madame Pomfrey had tried it with magic, it did nothing. His skin didn't even turn red from all the rubbing. He was so going to kill Tom after this.

He closed his eyes and sighed. Ever since the day he spoke to Tom, there had been nothing but trouble. But he could hardly blame the Slytherin, his life had been more confusing before. At least Tom brought some sense of stability. He knew what to expect, and who to trust.

Tom was arrogant, irritating and thought himself to be most perfect person around, but the Slytherin acted like a friend towards him, something Harry hadn't expected. Even though he didn't completely trust Tom -or that was what he told himself- he still loved to be around him. Not because Tom was so fun to be around. Not at all even, the git was always annoying him. But because the Slytherin challenged him, not only academically, but on all kinds of fields. Tom made sure his strongest traits rose to the surface. It was no surprise to Harry that most of those traits were more Slytherin then Gryffindor.

Nonetheless, he really hated to have a blue face. He looked in the mirror again. His eyes widened. The blue slowly began to fade. His skin turned slightly red from the rubbing, but that wasn't so bad. This was something he was going to put in the category 'weird'. Madame Pomfrey had been unable to remove it, why could he do it?

It reminded him of the time aunt Petunia almost shaved all his hair of. It had grown back that very night. This was a similar case. Whatever the reason, he was glad.

* * *

The next few days were horrible to say the least. Tom used all kinds of schemes and plots to bring down Malfoy in order to become the next 'Prince of Slytherin'. The worst thing was, Harry was always in the middle. Most believed it was all his doing. Malfoy even accused him of the whole potion-incident!

For some odd reason had he protected Tom, even helped him with his take-over. But not because he wanted Tom to have his little empire, no his reason were more selfish. If the Slytherin heir became the Slytherin prince, all the other snakes would leave him alone. Every time he was cooped-up in their commonroom, he felt like a thousand eyes were on him, ready to devour him. It gave him the chills.

That evening was no different, but Harry had learned to ignore it. He turned a page of the book he was reading, very much aware of Tom's presence right beside him. The book wasn't all that interesting just some book about defensive magic that Sirius had lent him. It was useful, if he ever got in a tight spot again.

He was just thinking this evening could be at least okay, when Malfoy showed up. He ignored most of the conversation, even if it was hard to ignore the eyes upon him, until Tom spoke of Sirius. He was getting tired of Tom always reviling his godfather.

"Could you please leave my godfather out of this." He said, rather annoyed. "Destroy each other if you must, but leave my family out of it."

Tom just continued, ignoring him completely. This whole confrontation was getting pretty tiring, so he turned back to his book. When the silence fell, Harry looked up again, until he felt something brushing his foot. Slowly he look down. A snake, not a very small one at that, slithered past his feet, toward Malfoy.

His first reaction was to get his feet on the couch. "_Where the hell did you get that?_" Seeing the snake caused him to slip into parsletongue, but he was not immediately aware of it.

"_Conjured it with your wand a few hours ago. Is she not beautiful?_" Harry ignored the part about the snake being beautiful. When did that sneaky bastard stole his wand? He checked for it, but it was still tugged away underneath his robe. "_Do not worry, she will not harm you._"

As if he was worried about his own life. The snake was lying on Malfoy's lap, not his. Besides with his parsle-magic, he could just will her away. "_I'm not afraid she will harm me. I'm afraid what you will make her do to Draco. He might be a git, but he doesn't deserve this_."

Draco? Since when was Malfoy Draco? He hated the slimy blonde almost as much as he hated Snape.

"_I was going to scare him, maybe leave a scar on that pretty face of his._" Tom said. They were both aware that every Slytherin, currently present in the commonroom, was listening to them. But neither really cared.

The thing that scared Harry, was that he didn't really care what became of Mafloy and his 'pretty face', he just didn't like it that Tom thought Malfoy to be pretty. He wasn't jealous, he just didn't like it. He wasn't even sure this feeling was his, or had anything to do with Malfoy's face. It might as well be Tom his feeling.

"_You promised you would not hurt any of my friends._" That was the first thing that popped in his head. He did not think of Malfoy as his friend. His voice was trembling. What he could become, -perhaps even was becoming- scared him more, then any snake could ever do.

"He's not your friend, so I can do as I please." Tom replied, knowing perfectly well what was playing in Harry's mind. "But I am willing to make a deal."

Harry looked up. "What kind of deal?" He didn't like the sound of this. The fact that Tom was so close to him, made him a bit anxious. There were a million horrible things Tom could ask of him.

He shivered when he felt Tom's soft breath against his ears. "Become a Slytherin and I promise I will not harm sweet Draco."

His eyes widened. Become a Slytherin? He almost yelled 'never!', but if he did that Tom would hurt Malfoy. Even the slimy git didn't deserve such an ugly scar on his face. But he could not become a Slytherin. That was exactly what he had told Sirius he would not do! His heartbeat quickened.

Was there another choice? No there wasn't. Tom knew he couldn't refuse. This whole things was not just about becoming the new Prince of Slytherin, it was also about him. Tom had planned it, in which ever way that was possible.

"Fine." He said, feeling the anger bubbling underneath his skin. "But you have to leave him alone, completely. I think you have made your point by now. I hope you're happy." He got to his feet, grabbed his stuff and walked towards the exit, only to realise he could not leave the snake's den without the Slytherin Heir. So he turned around, walking for the boy's dormitory. All eyes were on him, until he slammed the door close.

His anger faded away as soon as he sat down on the bed. He was going to become a Slytherin. How would Sirius react? And Ron and Hermione? This was the worst. Malfoy should really be thanking him right now. He and his stupid hero-complex! He closed the curtains around his bed, placing a silencing-charm upon them. He hardly noticed the tears upon his face, while he cried himself to sleep.

* * *

Dumbledore hadn't been happy when Harry told him, he wanted to be resorted. It was something that never occurred before, but the headmaster couldn't deny his wish. The sorting hat was placed upon his head once more, much like in his first year. But the outcome was different. Harry didn't ask the hat to place him anywhere but Slytherin, so that was exactly what the hat did. All the red and gold in his clothes, changed to green and silver.

The only one who was truly happy about this, was Tom, to no one's surprise ofcourse.

That morning at breakfast was horrific to say the least. He walked into the great hall, with Tom and a few of the other Slytherins. No body noticed, until he walked straight for the Slytherin table. There was no need for him to sit at the Gryffindor table any more. Ron wouldn't accept him, and Hermione, she would be shocked.

He closed his eyes when the whispers came.

"Harry?" It was Hermione.

He looked up. She was standing only a few feet away, Ginny and Ron were standing right behind her, their faces white.

"Why are you dressed like that?" She asked, dreading the answer.

"Because I am a Slytherin now." His eyes never left hers. He could see the shock, and then the pain and sorrow. "It's not what you think."

"It's exactly what she thinks!" Ron came a step closer, placing an arm around Hermione. "You're under some kind of spell Harry! Snap out of it!"

Those words hurt him the most. Ron being angry, he could have handled. Seeing them disappointed, he could have handled. They could have accused him of going dark, but instead it was this. They thought his mind wasn't his own, that he was under some kind of spell. But they didn't understand, they did not see what it was like for him. They couldn't.

"I'm sorry Ron." He said softly. "This is who I am now, what I am. You are going to have to learn to live with it. There is no one forcing me to do this. Tom isn't controlling my mind."

"Are you going dark then?" It was Ginny who asked. She looked sad as well, but also angry.

"No. But becoming a Slytherin is my choice. I never fitted well in Gryffindor, you know that. My place is with the snakes." Best to get it over with quickly. He wanted to go back to Gryffindor, sitting in the commonroom, playing games, making up dreams with Ron, feasting because they had won yet another Quidditch-match... But that was all over now.

"Harry, you don't mean that." Hermione said, tears were forming in her eyes.

"Yes I do. Go back to your own house." He turned around, walking away from his former friends. After today they probably wouldn't talk to him any more. He closed his eyes for a moment, realising everyone was watching him. Tom sat down beside him. "I hope you're happy now." He repeated his words from the day before.

"Very." The Slytherin heir replied. "And you will be as well. Your words just now were true, you do belong with us snakes. Give me the time to prove it."

"Do whatever you like, Riddle." He hissed back. "Just remember I will never be one of your mindless puppets."

"I truly adore you when you are angry." Tom whispered in his ear. At those words, something snapped inside Harry. He turned towards the Slytherin, punching him in the face, very much like Sirius had done a few weeks earlier.

"Mister Potter!" Professor McGonagall walked towards them. "There will be no fighting! And what are you doing at this table? Return to your own house-table at once!"

"I am afraid he is in my house from now on Minerva." Snape stopped beside her, looking Harry directly in the eyes. "Professor Dumbledore just informed me of his transfer. However..."

He totally forgot Snape was the head of Slytherin. This was going to be hell! If he only placed one toe out of line, Snape would expel him immediately!

"Fighting is not allowed, certainly not among your fellow house-mates." Snape drawled. "Detention Potter. Tonight."

Detention? That was all he got? Not even point deduction? Perhaps being a Slytherin wasn't going to be so bad. That punch was definitely worth it. "Yes Sir." He said, now looking at Tom, who was pressing a handkerchief against his nose. The white piece of fabric was already turning red.

As soon as both professors left -McGonagall rather shocked- Tom spoke. "You are going to pay for this Harry."

"You had it coming." Harry said, getting up from the table. "Try something and I will punch harder next time."

"There will be no next time." The Slytherin Heir hissed.

"Then stop pushing me to my limits." He left the great hall, forcing the Slytherin Heir to join him and leave his breakfast behind. If Tom was going to play it dirty, Harry was going to play even dirtier.


	28. Being dutch

My dearest readers,

First of all, I want to tank all of you for your support. I would have been unable to get this far without it. Secondly I want to apologise for the mistakes I made. Some people complain about it, and I know I shouldn't be bothered by it, but I am. I don't like to have so many mistakes in my story, because it sometimes 'scares' away new readers. So I have decided to take a break from writing any new chapters until I have re-read and adjusted the previous chapters. I can not promise all mistakes will be removed, but I hope it will be enough to get people of my back.

I will try to do this as soon as possible, because my head is still full of ideas for the upcoming chapters. And for those who are wondering (or telling me I have to stop denying it ;) ), it's still not a slash-story. Tom and Harry won't become a couple. There may be some weird feelings or thoughts, but I'm pretty sure my Harry is straight en my Tom is asexual, which doesn't mean Harry can't think of Tom as handsome, and Tom can't flirt with whomever he likes.

I sincerely hope you will all wait and stand by me during this time

NA.


	29. Chapter 28

_I have re-red 20 out of 27 chapters. And I corrected the mistakes I saw. I thought I had done enough work to write a new chapter. So please enjoy!_

_It is possible I will put some chapters together. So there might be a change in a couple of days. (Instead of chapter 29, you might get chapter 15, or something like that). The re-newed chapters will be posted when someone else has re-read them as well._

* * *

"Professor Snape told me to give you this." Harry looked up from his homework. A small boy handed him a piece of parchment.

"Thanks." He said, before opening it. His eyes widened. No detention? It didn't take him to long to realise what had happened. His eyes turned towards Tom, who was sitting near the fireplace, reading a book.

Harry got up en walked over to the couch. "What the hell have you done?" He asked, waving the small piece of parchment around.

Tom looked up, raising an eyebrow. "How many times have I told you to watch your language?" The Slytherin asked. "And you will have to be more specific."

More specific? Did he even want to know what else Tom had done? Probably not. "I was talking about this." He gave the piece of Parchment to Tom. "Have you threatened him or something?"

Tom didn't even look at the piece of parchment, but just gave him it back to him, before continue reading his book. "I thought you would be pleased. After all, you were right, I deserved that punch, and you did not deserve that detention."

Harry blinked a couple of times. He was right? That was not something Tom would say. Something was going on. He looked suspicious at his companion. "What are you up to this time?"

"Nothing." The Slytherin Heir responded. "You ignored me most of the day, I was getting tired of it. Not every action has an alternative motive."

"With you it does." Harry muttered. Harry could hardly believe Tom did this just because he was ignoring the Slytherin. There was always something behind it, and he had a whole vacation to figure it out. After all, they would be going home for Christmas-break the very next day. Perhaps it was time to play the perfect little Slytherin, Tom might be a little bit less secretive if he thought Harry was completely on his side. "Anyway." He said. "Thank you, it gives me to opportunity to gather my stuff and finish my homework."

Now it was Tom's turn to eye him suspiciously. "My pleasure." The Slytherin said. Before Harry could go back to his homework, Tom grabbed his wrist. "You do realise you are the only one making homework, you have an entire holiday to do that."

Harry looked at Tom's dark blue eyes. A smile appeared on his face. "Of course I do. But there are other things I need to do over the holidays. A certain someone made me a promise to teach me a few things." He winked, before he freed himself from the other's grip.

* * *

Friday forenoon Tom and Harry boarded the Hogwarts Express. Tom instantly realised his companion was looking for an empty compartment, but he had other plans. In order to keep his position, he had to show his fellow Slytherins his superiority, that meant sharing a compartment with them.

He grabbed Harry's wrist, dragging him through the crowd of students to a compartment somewhere in the middle of the train. He looked at the occupants. "Move." He ordered, pointing at Crabbe and Goyle. "Go wait outside."

The two baboons got up immediately, making room for him and Harry to sit down. Blaise nodded politely at the both of them.

"Hello Tom." Pansy said, winking at him. "Where will you be staying? Perhaps I can drop by."

Tom shivered. As if he was going to let the girl come anywhere near him ever again. Before he however could say anything, Harry leaned forward, looking the girl straight in the eye. "He will be staying with me in London." The boy said, his voice ice cold. "I would appreciate it if you left us alone."

The girl did not look impressed, she simply crossed her arms in defiance. "You can not tell me what to do Potter. Tom and I have something special."

Tom eyed his companion with interest, while the boy shifted his position, to sit next to Parkinson. Harry watched the girl with a look in his eyes, that matched Tom's mood almost perfectly: Murderous. "True enough." The boy continued, placing an arm tightly around Pansy's shoulder. "That is why I am asking you nicely...for this once."

This was not something Harry would normally do. It was almost like the boy was trying to impress him. Tom would have believed it, if it were someone else, but the new Slytherin loathed him. The idea alone was ridiculous. His Golden boy had an ulterior motive, that much was clear.

For a few seconds the coupé was quiet, while Pansy stared at Harry. Then she snorted. "Yeah right Potter. You might have a snake on your chest now, but you are still Dumbledore's light side Gryffindor puppet."

The boy shrugged. "I have never been a true Gryffindor, but that is not the issue here." For a moment Tom wondered how much effort it took Harry to talk like that, the boy almost sounded civilised. "The problem lies with you. You are causing Tom -whom you should call My Lord- discomfort, hence you are causing me discomfort." Harry pulled her even closer, whispering into her ear, but Tom could still hear it. "Unlike you, I have a special connection to Tom. I can feel what he feels, I can hear his thoughts, we are connected through our souls, in a way a ordinary tramp like you, could never understand. I advise you one last time to stay away from him, and from me, otherwise you will see first hand how much of a true Slytherin I am."

Tom watched the girl. Her face grew paler. For a moment it seemed like she was going to protest, say something again, but then she got up, away from Harry and his tight embrace. Her eyes landed on him. He simply smiled, not really assenting to Harry's words, neither casting them aside as lies. She left the coupé, without looking back.

"I must say Harry." He said, fixing his gaze on his companion. "That was mildly impressive. My guidance has helped you a lot, perhaps there is hope for you yet."

"Don't flatter yourself, Tom." Harry said, reclaiming his seat on his right side. "Your disgust and fear for her touch were simply making me nauseated."

He smirked. Harry was already turning into a real Slytherin. Soon no one could take the boy away from him. "Are you sure that is all it was?" He purred. "I could swear I felt some jealousy." He grabbed Harry's chin, forcing the boy to look into his eyes, ignoring the other two occupants in their coupé.

Harry cheeks turned slightly red. "Don't touch me." The boy hissed, pushing his hand away. The Gryffindor was back again. Tom had hoped Harry would keep up his role as Slytherin, challenging him, but that was perhaps asking to much in such a short time He had made great progress already. Harry was no longer the mindless child, doing things without thinking about it. The boy had learned some manners and verbal defences, with time Harry could rival him.

He smirked, before turning towards Blaise and the Malfoy Heir. The first one was slightly red in the face as well, a jealous look in his dark eyes. Tom had expected no less, after all he was well aware of Blaise his feelings towards Harry. When he fixed his gaze one the blonde, Draco looked away, out of the window. Malfoy had his own thoughts about their little interaction, not that he cared what the blonde thought.

"I require your presence in London during the holidays, Draco." Tom said, looking at the Slytherin opposite of him. Draco looked at him, ready to protest. He raised his hand, to stop the blonde, before he could usher one word. "I promise it will be worth your time. But please do not tell your father about me. It will make things more complicated, for you and for me."

"I believe I understand." The Malfoy heir said. "Notify me when my presence is required."

Perhaps the youngest Malfoy was not that spoiled as he had thought. Whenever he asked something similar of Abraxas, the blonde yelled at him and told him his father would hear about it. Or the elder bluntly refused. Draco was more subtle, he knew when he could get something worth while out of a situation. Abraxas might have been intelligent and extremely dangerous, but thinking was not something the older Malfoy had done a lot. Perhaps it was something that Draco had inherited from his mother.

"I will."

Tom was rather pleased with how well his plans progressed. Not only had he managed to steal the throne of Slytherin before Christmas break, he also ensured Harry was cut of from his friends and the old meddling fool. He had two full weeks to convince the boy even more. If the mutt stayed out of his way of course. He was hoping Sirius would spend a lot of time with his long lost little brother, but that was not guaranteed.

The rest of the morning passed in relative peace. While Tom read his book, Draco and Blaise conversed about the upcoming two weeks, and Harry stared through the window, lost in his own thoughts.

Shortly after midday Pansy returned, with a friend of hers. She ignored him and Harry completely, Tom couldn't care less. She would eventually speak to him again, attracted by his charm and power. He would enjoy his time without her never-ending comments about their non-existent connection.

It was long dark when the train stopped in London. Soon they stood alone before the gateway between platform 9 and 10. Tom looked around, but no muggle was in sight. He grabbed Harry's wrist and apparated out of King's Cross Station. Ending up at Grimmauldplace.

Tom looked at the house between number 11 and 13. They had spend the summer here, and now they would spend Christmas here. Harry had taken him inside before, which was the only reason he could see and enter the house now. He was grateful for that, asking Dumbledore for permission would have been troublesome.

Harry stepped through the door first, he followed promptly, closing the door behind him. Tom barely had to time to take of his coat, when he was thrown backwards.

"You filthy little snake!" Someone yelled. "You stay away from my godson, is that clear?"

The mutt. He could have expected this, after all Sirius Black was a true Gryffindor and protecting his godson, the son of his best friend, was al the man could do for now. He understood why Sirius was so protective of Harry, the boy was the closest thing to a son the mutt would probably ever have. Killing Sirius Black was not an option, his companion would hate him for that, causing his plans to take a huge step backwards or fail all together.

Tom had tried to alienate Harry from the Black Heir, but that had failed as well. The mutt excepted that his godson was in league with the younger version of a mass-murdering psychopath, the man was understanding, something Tom hadn't anticipated. The only thing he could do -for now- was play along.

He got back on his two feet, with a little help of Harry. Then he brushed of his clothes, ignoring the eldest Black until he was finished. "Might I enquire what I have done to offend you? Merely stepping inside your house -or should I say Dumbledore his headquarters- is no reason to attack a guest. Especially not when your godson is present."

"You may, but I think you know damn well what this is about." Black yelled back, still aiming his wand at Tom's chest.

"Enlighten me."

"You are turning my godson in one of your minions!" A curse barely missed him, but only because Harry stepped in and pulled him away from the ray of light.

"Sirius!" Harry said with a stern tone of voice. "Tom hasn't done anything! It was my choice to be resorted. I ended up in the house I was supposed to be in."

Black still aimed at him, but with Harry in front of him, it was hard to hit the right target, without hitting Harry. "I refuse to believe that, Harry! You are the son of James and Lily, Slytherin is not in your blood!"

Tom rolled his eyes, this was getting boring. People should just accept Harry's change of heart, instead of taking it out on him, even if it was his doing that the boy transferred in the first place. "Might I remind you that you descent from a long line of Slytherins and ended up in Gryffindor?"

"That's different." The mutt answered, finally lowering his wand, but only because Harry held the man's wrist in an tight grip.

"How is it different?" Tom asked.

"I chose to be a Gryffindor, you forced Harry." Black answered.

"Even I can not persuade the sorting hat to lie about such things."

"Enough! Both of you." Harry yelled. The boy looked annoyed, but only a small portion of feelings reached Tom, Harry was blocking it somehow. "Sirius." The ex-Gryffindor continued. "It was my own choice to be resorted. If I save a person's life, I gladly offer up something as addled as my place among the lions."

The mutt stared at his godson a little while longer, before those grey eyes fixated back on Tom. "If something happens to him, I will hold you personally responsible. And I will make you pay, is that clear?"

"Crystal." Tom answered. Not that he really cared. There was nothing the eldest Black could do to him. And no one was going to hurt Harry in any way, unless they wanted to be hurt ten times as bad.

"This is going to be the worst holiday ever." Harry muttered, before passing the both of them and disappearing upstairs. He would be a good little Slytherin for Harry's sake. Perhaps he could even win the trust of the mutt if he behaved nicely, although it was going to be hard, he really didn't like Sirius.

* * *

A couple of days later Harry and Tom were seated in the Black library. It was actually pleasant to be in there with just Tom. It was more relaxing then with Ron or Hermione. The first would be bored out of his mind and bother Harry every five seconds. Hermione would be stressed over homework, or magic, she did not immediately understand. Tom was not like that. The Slytherin Heir was just sitting in his chair, completely at ease.

Harry looked up from his own book – The dark arts and their countercurses- to watch Tom. The Slytherin browsed through the book, stopping at a specific page, getting lost in the words immediately. It was fascinating to see how Tom absorbed all this new information so easily, twisting it in his mind, to use it for his own ends.

"Why are you staring at me?" Tom asked out of the blue, his eyes still fixed on the page.

"I wasn't..." Harry shook his head. "I was thinking, that's all."

The Slytherin Heir looked up, a smirk on his face. "Oh really?"

"Yes, really." Harry answered, turning a page in his book.

"You were not admiring my handsome face, and the intelligence in my beautiful dark eyes?" Tom asked, closing his own book and getting up. "You were staring quite intently."

Harry could hear soft footsteps on the wooden floor. A moment later two hands were placed on opposite side of the chair he was occupying. When he looked up, Tom's face was only inches away from his own. Why did the Slytherin always have to come this close? It made him feel trapped and uneasy.

Harry swallowed, before he relaxed completely. Tom was never going to leave him alone if he showed signs of weakness. He just had to play this twisted game, then Tom would get bored and leave him alone. Because that was what all of this was, some game, just to amuse the Slytherin Heir.

"Ofcourse I was admiring you Tom." He answered, feeling a bit sick, but he didn't show it. "How can I not? You are almost perfect."

"Almost?" Tom purred.

"Yes, almost." Harry said, looking back at his book, feigning non-interest. "Your eyes are a bit to grey, perfect dark blue would have been so much better. And you have got a small birth mark in your neck. And you have got a small scar underneath your eye, did you know that?"

Harry was just saying things he had notices along the way. They were not really imperfections, but Tom would see it that way. "And that is only your appearance, please do not get me started on your character."

For a moment silence reigned. Then Tom laughed softly. "You are just messing with me, are you not?" The Slytherin asked, finally stepping away from Harry's chair.

"Actually I am not." Harry answered, not looking up from his book, even though he had no idea what was on the page. "You have a terrible attitude, and you love playing mindgames. Let's not forget that all your plans are actually diabolically evil. Let me correct that, you are diabolically evil, just like your counterpart, he actually looks the part as well, you are to cowardly to show your real self."

The book was pulled from his hands. When he looked up, he saw that there was no longer a smirk on Tom's face. Perhaps he went to far, judging by the ice-cold look in those dark blue eyes. Tom leaned over his chair again. "Never compare me to that monster. Is that clear?"

"Why not? You will eventually become him." Harry started this, he was not going to back down now. A shiver ran down his spine, when a pair of cold fingers brushed his neck.

"I will never become like him." The Slytherin whispered, malice in his voice. "It would be wise never to mention it again."

The grip on his neck became stronger, Harry could barely breath. "Tom..." He hissed. "Let...go..." He grabbed the other's wrist, in order to free himself. This innocent game turned into something much more dangerous. He knew angering Tom was not such a good idea, but he never expected the man to be so sensitive about his older counterpart.

"I have warned you so many times." Tom whispered, his grip didn't lose strength. "Do not offend me."

"I thought you loved it when I challenged you?" Harry asked, it took him a lot of effort. Tom looked angry enough to kill him. But would the Slytherin actually do it? He still had the feeling Tom needed him for something, besides the hunt for the other horcruxes. He reached for his wand. His fingers brushed past it.

"There is a difference between challenging me, and this." Tom grabbed his wrist, preventing him from grabbing his wand. "Do you have a death wish, Harry?"

"No." Harry didn't want to die, not now. He was finally able to change something about his life and,the lives of his friends and family. Dying now was not in his plans.

"Harry? Are you in here?" Hermione entered the library, shortly followed by Ron.

Tom's eyes left his face, to look slightly back at the two intruders. They couldn't have come at a worse time. Harry looked at them. It was a strange position to get caught in, and it could be easily misinterpreted. Tom was leaning over him, one knee on the chair, next to his legs. Their faces inches apart. Tom's hand around his throat was invisible for everyone that entered the library.

It didn't help that Tom was only wearing a pair of dark jeans and a shirt with the top buttons unbuttoned. His clothes were in no better condition. Due to Tom's knee, his dark green shirt was slightly lifted, showing a small piece of skin.

By the look one Hermione's face she made the wrong conclusion. Her complexion paled quite a bit. "Ahum..." She looked uncomfortable to say the least. "We didn't want to disturb you."

"Then why are you still here?" Tom hissed, the murderous intent was still lingering in his dark eyes.

"Because..." She looked from Harry to Tom and back again. "We wanted to talk to Harry."

"I thought Harry had been rather clear at breakfast, he does not want to talk to either of you." The Slytherin finally let go of his throat. The cold fingers brushed past Harry's shoulders, when Tom got up and stepped away from the chair.

"I know." Hermione continued. "But we are staying here for the remainder of Christmas-break, we might as well get along. And...something happened."

Harry rubbed his throat, before looking at his old friend again, with pain in his heart. "What happened?" He asked. If they were going to stay for the next two weeks, it was going to be one hell of a Christmas-break. It was hard enough with just the Black brothers and Tom. Regulus always tried to hide himself from Tom, while his older brother sought and excuse to fire a curse at Tom, and Tom's hatred for Sirius was even greater. They had been fighting on daily bases, both verbally and physically. It was driving Harry insane and it had only been a few days!

But Harry also noticed Tom was doing his utmost best to be civilised against Sirius. It would work, if Sirius wasn't hell bound on destroying Tom completely. Perhaps he should have a chat with his godfather about this. It would make his life a whole lot easier if the both of them just got along.

"Well." Hermione looked at Harry, before gesturing at Ron. It was only then that he noticed how bad the red-head looked. His eyes were red and puffy, his face pale and his whole body was trembling. "Mister Weasley was attacked by a giant snake, they don't know if he will survive. And even if he does...he will stand trial for breaking and entering. Apparently he was doing a job for the order at the department of mystifications. The wrong people found him."

"I'm sorry." Was all Harry could say. There was nothing he could do about it. He felt horrible, because he hadn't been there for Ron. "When did this happen?"

"The night before Christmas-break. They only found mister Weasley a couple of hours later." She said, looking at Tom from the corner of her eyes.

Harry looked at the Slytherin as well. Tom was reading his book again, but his whole postures told Harry that the Slytherin Heir was still angry. The images of Tom's past floated before Harry's eyes. He was not going to end like Abraxas. Perhaps an apology was in order, when the two Gryffindors were gone of course.

"I'm really sorry." Harry said again, now looking at Ron. "If there is anything I can do, please tell me."

For the first time the red-head looked up. "You could show some bloody emotions!" Ron yelled. "You're just sitting there, having fun with your new boyfriend, while my father is in the hospital. He could die!"

It took every ounce of his will, not to yell back. "He is not my boyfriend." Was the first thing he said, as calm as possible. "What do you expect of me? Should I cry? I won't. He is not my father, I lost him when I was still a baby, if you recall. None of this is my fault, so please go and be angry at someone else, because frankly I'm sick and tired of it."

"You don't know what my family, everyone here, has sacrificed for you!" Ron yelled again. "And how do you repay us? By shagging the enemy!"

Harry looked at his former best friend for a few seconds, before he started to laugh. It wasn't really kind, and he knew Ron was in an emotional turmoil, but it was to ironical. "What you have sacrificed? What about me? My family is dead, I have spend years with relatives, who hate me. I have risked my own life every single year, to protect you, and everyone else from Voldemort-"

"Don't say his name." The red-head whispered.

"- And what do I get in return? Everyone hates me, they think I'm crazy. Even the both of you." Harry got up to his feet. "You two are no better then anyone else. And what I do in my free time, is my business."

After those words, he left the library. They would think all sort of wrong things about him now, he realised that. But telling them his new-found bes friend tried to suffocate him, was not a better alternative. They would use it as an argument against Tom. If Sirius found out, he would be furious.

His fingers brushed over his throat. He could feel the pressure of Tom's cold fingers on his skin. He stopped halfway the stairs, leaning against the wall, closing his eyes.

"Are you al right?" Someone asked.

Harry opened his eyes. Regulus was standing a couple of steps lower. His eyes looked worried. "Yeah, fine."

"You had a fight with your friends." It was no question, it was a statement.

"Yeah...But I don't think they're my friend any more. I pushed them away." Somehow he felt comfortable talking to the youngest Black, even if it was a rather painful topic.

"I know the feeling. I thought I had driven Sirius away from me as well, but it turned out he still loved me enough to risk your and his life to save me." Regulus said. "Do not give up hope. I am sure they still care for you, and one day they will understand."

"Thanks." Harry replied.

"You are welcome." The youngest Black stepped past him.

"Regulus?"

"Hmm?"

"Why did you join Voldemort?"

Regulus looked back, a sad look in his grey eyes. "Because I thought he would protect my family." And with those words the youngest Black was gone.

Wasn't that the exact same reason why he was working with Tom? To protect his family and friends? Was it wise to trust the future Dark Lord? He could easily be betrayed. He fingers brushed the fingermarks in his neck once more. He was playing a very dangerous game, he realised that. But giving up was not in his dictionary. Whatever happened, he had to finish this. Even if it would lead to his own death.


	30. Chapter 29

_Hey guys! Please forgive me that it took me so long to update. I have been rather busy lately. This chapter has been half finished for two weeks, and I finally found the time to finish it._

_I'll be leaving for Italy in a couple of days, and I will be there for almost three months. I have no idea how many updates I can do in those months, it might be more, it might be less._

_I'm pleased to inform you all that I have finished re-reading my story and filtering all the mistakes I can find. On the downside, I still have to change it on my pc, seeing how I have done it on paper -I think better that way!- And once that's done, I will pass it over to a beta, for re-reading as well. Most of my mistakes should begone after then, giving everyone a more pleasant time reading my story. Once it's all up to date, I will be sending my chapters to my beta first, so you will have to wait a couple of days more._

_With that said and done, please enjoy the next chapter. Reviews are always welcome!_

* * *

The days that followed, were the most exhausting day's in Harry's life. Avoiding Ron and Hermione was the easiest part, even though it became harder when more guests arrived. Most of the Weasleys were staying at Grimmauldeplace, and Harry tried very hard to avoid them as well. He managed quit nicely, eating after all the others and disappearing back to his room before anyone could say anything.

There was only one person, who made it practically impossible to ignore him. Tom. Ever since the incident in the library, he had refused to speak to the Slytherin, other then the occasional pleasantries of course. Being alone in a room with his companion, was something Harry bluntly refused, even though he had no choice, there shared a room after all. Tom had noticed this as well, staking him throughout the house, not giving him a moment of peace. The fact that they had to stay near each other and the diary, didn't help.

That was why Harry was hiding behind a large cabinet in the corridor, right next to the lounge. He closed his eyes, praying, to whoever might listen, that Tom wouldn't find him. Usually he had better hidingspots, protected by magic, which made him undetectable, even for Tom. But this time the Slytherin caught him at the wrong moment.

Footsteps went past him. Harry let out the air he had been holding, opening his eyes again, only to see the dark blue ones of the Slytherin Heir.

"Did you really think you could hide from me forever?" Tom purred. "Your godfather can not always be there to protect you." Most of the time Sirius had been there to made sure nothing happened to Harry. He hadn't told his godfather what had happened, but the marks on his skin were enough for Sirius to know something went wrong.

Harry stared at the Slytherin Heir and swallowed. "I think I managed rather nicely, don't you?" He tried to keep his voice from trembling, keep it strong, but it was hard. There were still small marks on his neck were Tom had grabbed him, that was something he did not want to relive.

"All you have managed to do, is drive my patience to its limits." The elder stepped closer, grabbing Harry's wrist, preventing him to take his wand out. "There are certain things you and I need to do. Avoiding me is counterproductive."

"I think it's rather productive when you want to kill me." Harry swallowed again, feeling uncomfortable about the proximity of the other.

Tom's cold fingers traced the barely visible marks on his skin. "You angered me." Was al the Slytherin said, while tracing his hand over Harry's shoulder and chest. Tom came even closer, whispering into Harry's ear. "Perhaps we need to do this differently."

Before Harry could do anything, the Slytherin had taken the diary from him. He looked at the small book, realising what would happen if he did not get it back. He had to stay close to the diary in order to avoid headaches and other unpleasant feelings. If Tom had the little book, he would have to follow the Slytherin around, there would be no more hiding.

"Give it back!" He pushed Tom away, reaching for the diary.

"And why should I? It is mine after all." Tom held the diary out of his reach. The Slytherin was taller then he was, at least four inches. Al the Slytherin had to do, was keep the diary over his head and it would be impossible for him to grab it. But Harry was a wizard, and for once he thought about it, instead of jumping into action without his wand.

He drew his wand and aimed it at Tom. "Accio diary." The small book lipped out of the elder his fingers and ended up back in Harry's hand. "Thank you very much."

Before he could step away, or even turn around, Tom had grabbed his wrist again, turning it around en pushing him with his chest against a wall. When he tried to move, pain shot through his arm. Tom had trapped him, a feeling he did not like. The feeling became even worse when Tom took his wand from him.

"I do like a challenge." The Slytherin whispered. "But you are really driving me to my limits. Be glad I find this more amusing then annoying."

Actually Harry wasn't happy at all. Amusing the Slytherin Heir was not what he had intended, knowing all to well that Tom wouldn't leave him alone, until he got bored again. There was only one thing he could do: Stop fighting.

He smiled weakly, looking half over his shoulder. Tom's breath brushed his face, but he tried to ignore it. "I am terribly sorry." He said, not meaning a single word of it. "It's just that I've grown attached to that diary. Please don't take it away from me."

For a moment the Slytherin looked puzzled, but that look was quickly replaced by a smug one. "I thought you refused to become one of my puppets?"

Harry stared at the other for a few moments, or at least the part of Tom he could see, seeing how he was still facing the wall. It was a trap. And there were only two things he could do. He could continue this game, which could result in getting back the diary and being released from this awkward position. Or he could start fighting again, telling Tom just how much of a puppet he was. The second option was tempting, but not in his best interest. He was going to regret his decision, he realised that the moment he made it.

"I simply realised fighting you is not going to get me anywhere." He answered. "Perhaps we could make some form of agreement. You give me back _my_ precious diary, and I will do something for you in return." Of course Harry didn't consider the diary his, but claiming ownership would help his cause.

"Your diary?" Tom smirked. "What a strange turn of events. Al right, we can make a deal. Stop ignoring me and come to the library at seven o'clock tonight, then I will give you back the diary. Our diary."

Before Harry could protest, or even agree, the Slytherin had stepped away from him and was descending the stair. "Wait! Why the library?"

"Just be there, Harry. Seven o'clock, not a minute later." And with those words Tom disappeared behind the corner.

Just great. For once he had thought he outsmarted Tom, but he failed again. If he wanted the diary -and his freedom- back, he had no choice but to go to the library that evening.

* * *

She knew it! Harry was being controlled. His action weren't his own, or at least not completely. Ginny had been through this herself. It was not exactly the same, but the similarities were definitely there.

The Harry she knew, would never comply with any request of Voldemort, or even Tom Riddle. But now the ex-Gryffindor did everything Riddle asked willingly. Harry had no mind of his own any more, referring to the diary as 'his'.

But there was nothing she could do on her own. Perhaps she could go to Ron and Hermione, and if they weren't prepared the help her, then she would go to Dumbledore. Their headmaster was a powerful wizard, surely he could do something about the pestilence, that is called Tom Riddle.

She ran down the stairs, past the lounge, were Harry was sitting, toward the kitchen. Hermione was reading a book and Ron was playing with his wand, not noticing he was levitating half the supplies in the kitchen. No one else was present. "I need to talk to you." She said, setting herself down on the opposite site of the table.

Hermione was the first one to look up. "What's wrong?" The girl asked, a concerned look in her eyes.

"It's Harry." She answered.

Ron dropped his wand, looking at her directly now. "Did something happen again?" Her brother asked, anger was already rising in his voice. "I will kill that bloody snake, if he touches Harry again."

"Ronald, calm down." Hermione hissed.

"You saw what that snake did, Hermione." Ron continued. "The marks are still visible on Harry's skin."

Ginny had seen it as well, the red marks in Harry's neck, clearly fingermarks. Whatever Riddle did to Harry, it must have hurt. Another reason why they needed to get rid of Riddle as fast as possible.

"Perhaps they like it...a bit more rough." Ginny looked at Hermione, the girls cheeks had turned red. Her Harry would never do something like that. Harry loved her, not that manipulative psychopath. But that was not something she was going to say out loud.

"That's beside the point." She said, leaning a bit closer to the two of them. "I heard them talking in the corridor just now. I'm fairly certain Riddle is controlling Harry. He referred to the diary as his. The same diary that made me do horrible things in my first year."

"I saw it two." Hermione bit her lip. "When Harry was in the hospitalwing, with Riddle. It was lying on the nightstand."

"We have to destroy it, before Harry starts doing things he will regret for the rest of his life." Ginny answered.

"Like transferring to Slytherin?" Ron asked dryly.

"Exactly like that." Ginny looked towards the entrance, just to make sure no one was coming in. Then she leaned in even closer. "We have to steal that diary and destroy it, tonight."

"I don't know." The bushy-haired girl hesitated. "What if Harry isn't possessed? We might ruin our only chance to get him back."

Ginny stared incredulously at Hermione. How could she even doubt this? Her best friend was possessed by evil itself, and she was just going to let this opportunity slide? Her gaze turned towards Ron. Even her brother was doubting.

She got to her feet. "Fine, then I'll do it on my own!" She said, walking out of the kitchen. She was perfectly capable of stealing an item like Riddle's diary. And when she got it, she would go to Dumbledore and make sure it got destroyed. There was no way she would let Harry be Riddle's puppet.

* * *

With a sigh Harry left his room and went downstairs. Whatever Tom had planned for him, he wasn't looking forward to it. But he had no choice. If that diary remained with Tom, he had to go to every single place the Slytherin came up with.

"Stupid diary." He mumbled, while putting his hands in his pocket and mustering the willpower to go inside the library. He took a deep breath, before he stepped inside.

"Ah Harry, I am glad you decided to show." Tom said to him, too polite too be trusted. Harry looked around the library, everything was still in it's place. The only thing -or rather someone- that didn't belong there, was Malfoy. What the hell was the blonde doing here? In the old days he would have grabbed his wand and cursed Malfoy into next week, but now it didn't even occur to him.

"Evening Tom, Malfoy." He said, before sitting down in his favourite chair. "Could you please explain to me what we are doing here?"

"Potter." Malfoy simply said, his eyes were neutral and fixed upon Harry.

"You wanted lessons, I am providing them." Tom explained, grabbing his wrist and pulling him up. "Now please, face Draco, we are going to test your defences. I seriously doubt your godfather is doing a great job."

"He's doing just fine, you just don't like him." Harry replied. With his wand he moved the furniture aside. Then he faced Malfoy.

"Your Godfather?" The blonde asked, aiming his wand at Harry. "Sirius Black?"

Harry grinned. "Yeah Malfoy, the very same one. He's been teaching me DADA, because our current teacher sucks at it." Actually Umbridge was no teacher, she was a deranged woman, send by the Ministry to reform Hogwarts, and hold an eye on Dumbledore. She wasn't going to get him involved in this. He wanted to pass his OWL's, that was all that mattered.

"Is he any good?" The Malfoy Heir asked.

"Yeah, pretty good." He shrugged.

Tom coughed, a slightly irritated look upon his face. "If you two start the duel already, we can see just how good Black his lessons have been."

"Ready Potter?" Malfoy asked, something he would not have done before. In the old days, he would have attacked without warning.

Harry nodded. "Bring it on, Malfoy."

Then the fight began. Malfoy was the first one to fire a spell, but Harry blocked it easily. Then it was his turn the attack, but the blonde blocked his attack as well.

The wall behind Harry scattered into a thousand pieces, when Malfoy fired a mean curse at him. Harry tanked his fast Quidditch-reflexes, without them the curse would have struck him right in the chest. "Are you trying to kill me?" He asked, aiming his wand again. He flicked his wand, speechless magic became easier after the first few lessons with Sirius.

"No, but childish spellwork, will not help you, Potter." For a moment Malfoy looked confused, before raising a simple protego-shield. Harry's spell bounced of it, knocking over a lamp. "What the hell was that?"

"Speechless wandwork." Harry grinned, flicking his wand again. This time the blonde had noticed it immediately.

"Protego!" Malfoy practically yelled, but it was useless. The shield-charm protected you from most spells and even physical encounters, it would not protect the caster from a blast. The floor at Malfoy's feet exploded, pushing the blonde and his shield backwards, against one of the bookcases.

Harry grinned. "Looks Like Sirius is a better teacher then you thought." He said to Tom, only to fall victim to a stunning-spell. He slummed to the floor. Tom was the first one to come into his vision, followed by the blonde. Malfoy looked wrecked. He had a cut above his eye, rather deep, blood dripping in his blonde eyebrow. His hair was a mess and his clothes were scrambled. There was even a cut in the boy's lip, and some red spots, that would turn into bruises.

"Yes." Tom said. "Your godfather is a great teacher, he only forgot to mention that you should never turn you back to enemy, until you are absolutely sure he or she is unable to fight. Or brag about a victory, that is not yet yours."

Harry glared at the Slytherin Heir. Snakes fought unfair. In a fair fight, he would have won. But that was just it. There were no fair fight, not in the real world. If he expected to survive, he had to learn to fight unfair. He closed his eyes,waiting until someone would lift the curse.

It didn't take that long. But when he opened his eyes, it was not Tom or Malfoy, that helped him back up, it was Sirius. "Are you okay, kiddo?" The man asked.

"Yeah fine." He looked past his godfather, towards Malfoy. "I think he had worse."

Sirius looked over his shoulder. "I think so to, but did you have to destroy half the library to do that?"

Harry smiled, looking almost innocent. "He asked for it."

"I still won." Malfoy crossed his arms, looking from Sirius to Tom and back again, clearly debating with himself, who was the scarier man.

"I apologise for the destruction." Tom said, for once he sounded sincere. "I will make sure all damage is repaired once we are done."

Harry raised an eyebrow, before rolling his eyes. This was Tom's way of saying 'Leave, you are disturbing us'. It was a lot better than all the vile words, and the cursing.

"You better. Otherwise I will wrecked that face of yours." Sirius smiled, sounding almost as polite as Tom. Something was wrong here. They did their best to be civilised to each other. Perhaps they finally realised he wasn't all to pleased with their behaviour towards one another. Or they both had ulterior motives. Bloody Slytherins -he considered Sirius to be one as well-, he feared for the later.

"Hey Potter." Malfoy walked over him.

He looked up to the blonde, seeing Tom ad Sirius from the corner of his eye. "Yes?"

"I never tanked you for saving me the other day."

"What are you talking about?" Harry looked puzzled. It took him several second to realise what Malfoy meant. He shrugged. "You would have done the same for me."

"Going to Gryffindor to save your ass from a lion?" Malfoy asked, turning the incident completely around. "Not bloody likely.

"Perhaps not back then. But now you would. After all Slytherins look out for one another, do they not?"

The blonde snorted. "You are still a Gryffindor at heart."

"Actually I'm not. Never was. Gryffindor in my head, Slytherin at heart." The sorting hat always said he would do great in Slytherin, now he actually believed it. The destruction of Voldemort would be a lot easier when he did it the snake's way, then doing it the lion's way. He would still struggle, and it would still be hard, but at least now he didn't have to sacrifice anyone, besides himself perhaps. Helping Tom was the easy path -not considering the abandonment of his friends ofcourse-, Dumbledore's plan would have caused him more pain and suffering, sacrificing other people along the way, like his parents, like Sirius.

"You are not half bad, Potter." Malfoy commented, while examining him.

"Call me Harry." He answered. "We've know each other long enough."

"We have hated each other long enough." The blonde added dryly.

Harry laughed softly. It was sort of true, even though he never really hated the Malfoy heir. The blonde just got on his nerves, and was kind of a git most of the time. But he also noticed how smart Draco really was, and how hard the boy worked for his grades, even if Hermione's grades surpassed most of them.

"I believe we need to stop our practise for tonight." Tom announced. "Your dearest godfather instructed us to clean this mess up first. It is already late, we will continue this the day after tomorrow."

"Why only then?" Harry asked. It dawned on him rather fast. It would be Christmas the next day, he almost forgot. "Since when do you care about any holiday at all?"

"Since your rabid dog said we have to attend." Tom replied. "I doubt I am going to enjoy myself. Being forced to spend an entire evening with those red-heads and the mutt, is going to drive me insane."

"Try an entire day." Harry grinned. It would be Christmas the very next day. There would be presents, and breakfast, he could spend some time with Sirius, like a real family would. After all Sirius was the closest thing to a father he had.

"I am not going to spend an entire day with them." The Slytherin said indignantly. "We are going wand-shopping tomorrow."

Harry laughed softly. His companion really resented these kind of things. Perhaps he was the only one that understood. After all celebrating holidays on your own, was never fun. Maybe this would be the first time for Tom to actually celebrate Christmas with a real family. The smile disappeared from his face. It would not be like previous years. It wouldn't be the same without Ron and Hermione at his side. He tried not to think about it, while he helped Tom and Draco to restore the library to his former glory.

Soon the last book found it's way to it's spot between two other books. Tom hadn't been much help, without a wand the Slytherin was sort of useless.

"Thanks, Mal-Draco." Harry said to the blonde.

"Don't mention it." Draco waved it away. "I will see you the day after tomorrow then."

The Malfoy Heir exited the library, after making a weird gesture to Tom. It was something between a bow, and a regular salute.

Harry watched the boy go, then he turned towards Tom, who was staring intently at him. Before the Slytherin Heir could say anything, he raised his hand. "Save it for the day after tomorrow. I'm going to bed now." And with those words he left as well.

* * *

Tom stared at the pile of presents, lying on the floor at his and Harry's bed end. The younger boy was sitting on the ground, next to the pile, unwrapping a big gift. The boy looked up, his green eyes filled with joy.

"Here, these are for you." Harry pushed six presents towards him. Tom stared at the gifts. It had been a long while since he had gotten any gifts. Still sitting on the bed, he grabbed the first gift and looked at the tag. From Blaise Zabini. He never expected his fellow Slytherin to send him something, at least not this fast.

He unwrapped the present. A small glass ball fell into his lap. He grabbed it and looked at it. A remembrance ball.

"Who gave you that?" Harry asked.

"Blaise."

"Why?" The boy looked puzzled. "You never forget anything."

"It's symbolic." He answered, looking at the ball. The smoke remained white. Like Harry said, he never forgot anything. Blaise gave him this because of their earlier conversation, it was about Harry. This was a reminder that he should not forget that Blaise was in love with Harry. What did the boy think? That he was in love with harry himself? No, the Golden boy was his, but there were no feelings involved. Even though he would never give Harry tot Blaise, not in a million years.

Harry looked at him a little while longer, before turning back to his own present, a green sweater.

Tom took his second present and opened it. He got potionset from Draco and a book about transfiguration from Pansy. It were useful presents, so he wouldn't throw them away. In the old days, he would have thrown almost all the presents out, because of their uselessness.

"I got a present from Sirius." Tom said to Harry, raising an eyebrow.

"Really?"

"Yes." He opened the package. It was another book, about the dark arts. It was an old book, obviously out of the Black family library. He smiled slightly. "Interesting." Was all he said.

Then he looked at Harry again. "What did you get?"

"A sweater from Ms. Weasley, a book about Quidditch from Hermione, some Zonko stuff from Ron, books about defence against the dark arts from Sirius and a bracelet from Blaise. I still have a couple of presents left."

A bracelet from Blaise? And the boy did not think that was weird? It was all to obvious, but Harry was to thick to see it. He opened his last present, without looking from who it was. A small black book was wrapped in the dark blue paper. He looked at it. It was a diary. An empty one. Rather expensive, judging by the cover. He opened it. A small note was written inside:

_Now you can start over again._

_Harry._

No words past his lips. What could he say? It was a simple gift, but it was also the best gift he had ever gotten. His fingers brushed the soft leather cover. This was the perfect gift. He was so entranced by the beauty of such a simple diary, that he did not notice Harry looking at him, with a smirk on his face.

"I am guessing you are pleased then?" The boy asked.

Tom looked up. For the very first time, he found no words to counter Harry's.


End file.
